This book presents the extraordinary story of a Bolognese woman of
the settecento. Laura Maria Caterina Bassi (1711-1778) defended 49
Theses at the University of Bologna on April 17, 1732 and was
awarded a doctoral degree on May 12 of the same year. Three weeks
before her defense, she was made a member of the Academy of
Sciences in Bologna. On June 27 she defended 12 additional Theses.
Several of the 61 Theses were on physics and other science topics.
Laura was drawn by the philosophy of Newton at a time when most
scientists in Europe were still focused on Descartes and Galen.
This last set of Theses was to encourage the University of Bologna
to provide a lectureship to Laura, which they did on October 29,
1732. Although quite famous in her day, Laura Bassi is
unfortunately not remembered much today.
This book presents Bassi within the context of the century when
she lived and worked, an era where no women could attend university
anywhere in the world, and even less become a professor or a member
of an academy. Laura was appointed to the Chair of experimental
physics in 1776 until her death. Her story is an amazing one. Laura
was a mother, a wife and a good scientist for over 30 years. She
made the transition from the old science to the new very early on
in her career. Her work was centered on real problems that the City
of Bologna needed to solve. It was an exciting time of discovery
and she was at the edge of it all the way.
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