AGNESI, MARIA GAETANA

AGNESI, MARIA GAETANA. – Scholar of mathematical sciences and educator, born in Milan on 16 May 1718 and died there on 9 January 1799. Of precocious intelligence, she took part as a child in the academies held in her father’s home; her father was a professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna. At one of these gatherings, at the age of nine, she delivered a discourse by her tutor, which she had translated into Latin: *oratio qua ostenditur artium liberalium studia foemineo sexu neutiquam abhorrere*. She studied not only the classical languages but also French, German, and Spanish; she devoted herself to history and, in particular, to philosophy; yet the true field of her genius was mathematics. Her *Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana* (1784) were so highly esteemed that they were translated into French (by D’Antelmy) and into English (by Colson). Even Pope Benedict XIV expressed his satisfaction with her and offered her the chair of mathematics at the University of Bologna. She declined the offer and instead followed her vocation, devoting herself entirely to the care of the sick. First, she established a hospital in her own home; later, in 1771, she was called by the Archbishop of Milan to the “Luogo più Trivulzio,” a refuge for elderly men and women without assistance, where she spent the last fifteen years of her life as director, teacher, and nurse.