Women Scientists

The 18th century was a time of logic and experimentation and many of the sciences had their beginnings at that time. But throughout most of Europe, these studies were reserved exclusively for men. Few options were available to European women with an inclination to study. A university education was off limits to women almost everywhere in Europe, with one notable exception: Italy. In Italian universities, women competed equally with men, and among those liberal Italian universities, one in particular stands apart.

The University of Bologna was founded in 1088 as a law school, and is the oldest university in Europe. During the 18th century, intellectually gifted women from the upper classes, and sometimes even from the less economically advantaged classes, had access to a level of education not available in most Western nations until the 20th century. Most of these women, as the following short biographies demonstrate, flourished in various areas of science.

Among the women professors of the University of Bologna, Laura Bassi (1711-1778) was the pioneer. She was the first woman to earn a PhD, and the university's first female professor. At the age of 21, Bassi became Professor of Physics. However, the university was not so liberal as to allow her to give lectures there; this remained a right reserved solely for men. Bassi were therefore obliged to conduct her lectures, and hold her experiments, in her home. She conducted physics tutorials and experiments for her students throughout her academic career and for over thirty years offered an annual public lecture on experimental physics. She also continued her own studies in literature as well as science, but considered only science as truly valuable, focusing on Mechanics, hydraulics and anatomy. But perhaps her most enduring achievement is the legacy she left to the women who followed her. Bassi's scholarship and life-long Achievement in both research and teaching made it easier for other women to obtain university appointments. Most importantly, her successors were afforded full professorial privileges without restrictions based on gender.

In the 18th century, anatomy stood at the vanguard of medical research, and in 1742 Ercole Lelli, a painter and sculptor, became the first person to make a detailed reconstruction of the human skeleton and muscles in wax. These models were used to familiarize students with the human body. Lelli was assisted in his work by Giovanni Manzolini, who later became a professor at the University of Bologna. In turn, Manzolini was assisted by his wife, Anna Morandi (1716-1774), who came to be considered the finest practitioner of artistic anatomy.

Morandi did not set out to become an anatomist. Her early education focused on drawing and sculpting, but she later combined her scientific observations and her artistic talent to produce very faithful reproductions of anatomical systems. When her husband fell ill and could no longer teach, Morandi was officially charged with delivering his lectures. After he died in 1760, Morandi was elected to a professorship at the university and, nine years later, was also named the anatomy department's chief model maker.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799), the daughter of Pietro Agnesi, a professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna, was both a brilliant linguist and a talented mathematician. She mastered French by the time she was five years old, and a number of ancient languages by the age of nine. Later, Agnesi focused her attention on mathematics. She devoted herself to algebra and geometry in her studies, and compiled the book that made her famous - Instituzioni Analitiche (Analytical Institutions), which for the first time provided a synthesis of many different branches of mathematics. The work became well known because its terminology constituted a basis for subsequent scientific works, dictionaries and encyclopedias.