Laura Bassi Who Lindsey Nagy Hood College Frederick

Laura Bassi. . . Who? Lindsey Nagy Hood College Frederick, Maryland

Laura’s Stats • Born October 1711 in Bologna, Italy • Death 1778 • Age of 5 she was taught by Father Lorenzo Stegani • Age of 13 was privately tutored by Gaetano Tacconi • Child Prodigy

Patrons • Jacopo Beccari • Gabriele Manfredi • Giulio Alberoni • Prospero Lambertini (Pope Benedict XIV)

The Great Year of 1732 March 26 th April 17 th Became a voting member of the Bologna Academy of Science Defended her set of 49 theses for the University of Bologna May 12 th June 27 th Awarded a degree at the University of Bologna Defended 12 more theses October 29 th December 18 th University of Bologna grants her a lectureship Bassi gives her first lecture

Early Teaching • First lecture – Newtonian physics “De aqua corpore natuarili elemento aliorum corporum parte universi” • Taught physics at the University • Salary 500 lire annually • Did not teach regularly • Limited resources

Career Expansion 1735 – Was given access to a special collection of books in the Vatican Index Liborum Prohibitorium Spent 3 years studying advanced mathematics under Gabriele Manfredi Set-up laboratory in her own home to use conduct experiments and teach 1738 – Married Giovanni Guiseppe Veratti

Advancing • Full classes Recognition • 1745 – she lobbies for a position as the 25 th member of the Benedettina Academy within the Academy of Science formed by Pope Benedict XIV • 1746 – Voltaire writes to Bassi requesting to be a member of the Academy of Science “Dear Madam, I have been wishing to journey to Bologna in order to be able one day to tell my countrymen I have seen Signora Bassi? There is not a Bassi in London, and I should be more happy to be a member of the Academy of Bologna than that of the English, although it has produced a Newton. If your protection should obtain for me this title, of which I am so ambitious, the gratitude of my heart will be equal to my admiration for yourself…”

Dissertation s

Why did she not publish much of her work? • Children • Married life • Did not seek recognition & fame • What she did publish was in Latin

1757: “De problemate quodam hydrometrico”

1757: “De problemate quodam mechanico”

1745: “De aeris compressione” (presented in 1746) Boyle’s Law: P ∙ V = k 1791: “De immixto fluids aere” (presented in 1747) Poetry

Recognition • 1200 lire salary in 1760 • Appointed to the Chair of Experimental Physics at the Institute of Sciences in 1776 • Medal • Street in Bologna • Liceo Laura Bassi in Bologna, founded 1860

Special Thanks § Hood College – Student Research Institute Advisors: Dr. Kimber Tysdal & Dr. Betty Mayfield Melissa Barrick, Laura Printz, & Chelsea Sprankle § Pi Mu Epsilon, Maryland Delta Chapter § University of Bologna

References • Algarotti, F. C. (1739). Il newtonianismo per le dame, ovvero Dialoghi sopra la luce, i colori, e l’attrazione. A spese di Giambatista Pasquali, libraro e stampatore di Venezia. Napoli. • Algarotti, F. C. (1739). Sir Isaac Newton’s philosophy explain’d for the use of the ladies : in six dialogues on light and colours / from the Italian of sig. Algarotti. . London. • Bassi, L. (1732). Miscellanea (M. Cavazza & P. Bertucci, Eds. ). Bologna: mss. • Bassi, L. (1757). “De problemate quodam hydrometrico. ” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 4, 61 -73. • Bassi, L. (1757). “De problemate quodam mechanico. ” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 4, 74 -79. • Bassi, L. & Canterzani, S. (1791). “De immixto fluids aere. ” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 7, 44 -47. • Bassi, L. & Zanotti, F. M. . (1745). “De immixto fluids aere. ” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii , 2(1), 347 -353. • Bochner, S. (1966). The Role of Mathematics in the Rise of Science. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. • Bologna, Instiutio magistrale. (1960). Studi e inediti. Bologna: 1960. • Buell, H. S. J. (1853). “Laura Maria Caterina Bassi. ” Women’s Record. London. 204 -205. • Cavazza, Marta. “Laura Bassi” Bologna Science Classics Online • Ceranski, B. (1996). Und sie furchtet sich vor niemandem: Die Physikerin Laura Bassi 1711 -1778. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag. • Chandrasekhar, S. (1995). Newton’s Principia for the Common Reader. New. York: Oxford University Press. • Cieslak-Golonka, M. & Morten, B. (2000). “The Women Scientists of Bologna. ” American Scientist, 88(1), 68. • Elena, A. (1991) “In lode della filosofessa di Bologna: An Introduction to Laura Bassi” Isis, 82(3), 510 -518.

• Findlen, P. (1993) “Science as a Career in Enlightenment Italy: The Strategies of Laura Bassi” Isis, 84(3), 441 -469. • Findlen, P. (2003) “The Scientist’s Body: The Nature of a Woman Philosopher in Enlightenment Italy. ” In L. - Daston & G. Pomata (Eds. ), The Faces of Nature in Enlightenment Europe (211 -236). Berlin: BWV Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag. • Garelli, A. (1883). Laura Bassi, biografia. Bologna. • Goldsmith, L. T. (1987). “Girl Prodigies, Some Evidence and Some Speculations. ” Roeper Review , 10(2), 74 -82. • Logan, G. B. (1999). “From Learned Ladies to Teachers of Men: Doctors of Philosophy. ” Chap 8 in Italian Women in Science from the Renaissance to the Nineteenth Century. Proquest Digital Theses, University of Ottowa, Canada. • Logan, G. B. (1994) “The Desire to Contribute: An Eighteenth Century Italian Women in Science. ” The American Historical Review, 99(3), 758 -812. • Mazzotti, Massimo. (2004) “Newton for Ladies: gentility, gender, and radical culture. ” British Journal for the History of Science, 37(2), 119 -146. • Nies, K. A. (1999). “Laura Bassi: A Physicist Supported by the Church. ” Retrieved June 14, 2007, from Hypatia Website: http: //www. hypatiamaze. org/laura/bassi. html. • Oglive, M. B. (2000) “Laura Maria Caterina Bassi. ” In Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science. (Vol. 1, pp. 88 - 89). New York. • Roero, C. S. (2004). “Gabriele Manfredi’s treatise De constructione aequationum differentialium primi gradus (1707). ” Oberwolfach Report, 51, 2734 -2737. • Schiebinger, L. (1993). “Women in Science: Historical Perspective. ” In C. M. Urry, L. Danly, L. E. Sherbert, & S. Gonzaga (Eds. ) Women at Work: A Meeting on the Status of Women in Astronomy (11 -19). Maryland.

Images (in order of appearance) § Bassi, L. (1757). “De problemate quodam hydrometrico. ” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 4, 61 -73. § Bassi, L. (1757). “De problemate quodam mechanico. ” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 4, 74 -79. § [Untitled photograph of Laura Bassi]. Retrieved July 8, 2007, from: http: //www. edu. linkoping. se/berzelius/ Vetenskapskvinnan/bassiutskrift. htm. § Subleyras, P. H. (18 th Century). Benedictus XIV, Retrieved July 8, 2007, from: www. romancatholicism. org/beatus- andreas. htm. § Sezanne, A. (1888). University of Bologna Seal, Retrieved July 12, 2007, from: http: //www. answers. com/topic/history- of- european-research-universities. § Consoli, A. (1732). Insignia, Retrieved July 12, 2007, from: http: //www. euarchives. org/index. php 3? sch=3&lng=en&pge= photo&cty=bologna&tmp=&nr=36. § Huff, L. (2000). List of annual lectures, Retrieved July 12, 2007, from: http: //www. americanscientist. org/template /Asset. Detail/ assetid/14707/page/2; jsessionid=aaa 5 LVF 0. § [Untitled photograph of woman and child]. Retrieved July 17, 2007, from: http: // www. uweb. ucsb. edu/~jmd/. § [Untitled photograph of Bassi’s bronze medal] Retrieved July 17, 2007, from: http: //www. christophereimer. co. uk /images/m/9566. jpg.