ScienceWeek

THE 18TH CENTURY WOMEN SCIENTISTS OF BOLOGNA

n the history of Europe, the 18th century is known as the Age of Reason (the Enlightenment), a period when the educated upper classes doted on rational thought and the beginnings of modern science. This was an era that produced a great and influential flowering of human thought, but in all the countries in Europe except one, women were forbidden to study and lecture in universities, and women had hardly any participation in the sciences. The one exception was Italy.

The following points are made by M. Cieslak-Golonka and B. Morten (American Scientist 2000 88:68):

1) The authors point out that in the 18th century, the education of Italian women from the higher social classes was exactly the same as that of men, the special attitude toward the education of women apparently stemming from the influence of ancient Rome. In the universities of Salerno, Bologna, Padua, and elsewhere in Italy, women competed on an equal footing with men, particularly in the fields of literature, natural sciences, and medicine.

2) The University of Bologna, founded in 1088, was a place where the students elected both the faculty and the rector, and a university distinguished by the unusual number of women scientists it graduated and hired during the 18th century. At the University of Bologna, intellectually gifted women from the upper classes, and occasionally from the lower classes, had access to a level of education not seen in most Western nations until the 20th century. Some of these women flourished as scholars and scientists:

a) Laura Bassi (1711-1778): Bassi was the pioneer among the women professors of the University of Bologna. She became the first woman to earn a doctor of philosophy degree, the university's first female professor, and the first woman to occupy a chair in physics. She focused on mechanics, hydraulics, and anatomy, and she was particularly intrigued with the works of Newton (1642-1727). She conducted physics tutorials and experiments for her students throughout her academic career, and for over 30 years, she offered an annual public lecture on experimental physics. Her academic duties were combined with an active family life: in 1738 she married a physician, and together they had 12 children.

b) Anna Morandi Manzolini (1716-1774): Morandi was considered to be the finest practitioner of artistic anatomy of her time. She is frequently cited as the first to make models of internal organs, and her work showing details of the abdominal cavity and the uterus gained her special notice. She produced a model of the ear that could be taken apart to be used in the instruction of medical students. At the present time, in the Anatomical Museum at the University of Bologna, one can still see Morandi's wax models, including her self-portrait.

c) Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799): Agnesi was a brilliant linguist and a talented mathematician, the eldest of 21 children born to Pietro Agnesi, a professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna. Her most famous work, in two volumes, was _Analytical Institutions_, which for the first time provided a synthesis of many different branches of mathematics. The first volume focuses on algebra and its applications in geometry. One chapter describes a curve that has become well-known as "Agnesi's curl", or "versiera della Agnesi", which has become mistranslated to "the witch of Agnesi". This curve, expressed by the equation x^(2)y = a^(2)[a-y], was first described by Fermat (1601-1665). The second volume of Agnesi's _Analytical Institutions_ contains an analysis of differential and integral calculus. Agnesi was admitted into the Academy of Sciences in Bologna, and in 1750 she was offered an honorary chair at the University of Bologna in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.

d) Maria Dalle Donne (1778-1842): Dalle Donne was born to a peasant family in a small village on the outskirts of Bologna. Her talents were recognized early, and she was encouraged to study medicine. In 1799, she presented her dissertation and took the examination that made her the first female doctorate in medicine. She passed the examination with highest honors (maxima cum laude). In 1800, Dalle Donne published three important scientific papers. The first paper, on anatomy and physiology, was a review and commentary on work previously done on female reproduction and fertility, fetal malformations, and blood circulation in the uterus. The second paper suggested for the first time that diseases be classified on the basis of symptoms. The third paper focused on midwifery and the care of newborns. In 1829, Dalle Donne became only the second woman, after Laura Bassi, to become a member of the prestigious Ordine de Benedettini Academici Pensionati, in which she was awarded the title of "Academic". In 1832, Dalle Donne became Director of the Department of Midwifery at the University of Bologna.