Maria Gaetana Agnesi
Maria Gaetana Agnesi | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 9 January 1799 Milan, Cisalpine Republic | (aged 80)
Nationality | Italian |
Known for | Author of Instituzioni Analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana (English: Analytical Institutions for the use of Italian youth) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Institutions | University of Bologna |
Maria Gaetana Agnesi (
She is credited with writing the first book discussing both
She devoted the last four decades of her life to studying
Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini, harpsichordist and composer, was her sister.
Early life
Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in
Maria was recognized early on as a
Agnesi suffered a mysterious illness at the age of twelve that was attributed to her excessive studying and reading, so she was prescribed vigorous dancing and horseback riding. This treatment did not work; she began to experience extreme convulsions, after which she was encouraged to pursue moderation. By age fourteen, she was studying ballistics and geometry.[12] When she was fifteen, her father began to regularly gather in his house a circle of the most learned men in Bologna, before whom she read and maintained a series of theses on the most abstruse philosophical questions. Records of these meetings are given in Charles de Brosses' Lettres sur l'Italie and in the Propositiones Philosophicae, which her father had published in 1738 as an account of her final performance, where she defended 190 philosophical theses.[12]
Her father remarried twice after Maria's mother died, and Maria Agnesi ended up the eldest of 21 children, including her half-siblings. Her father agreed with her that if she were to continue her mathematics research, then she would be permitted to do all the charity work she wanted.
Contributions to mathematics
Instituzioni analitiche
According to Britannica, she is "considered to be the first woman in the Western world to have achieved a reputation in mathematics". The most valuable result of her labours was the Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana, (Analytical Institutions for the Use of Italian Youth) which was published in Milan in 1748 and "was regarded as the best introduction extant to the works of
A French translation of the second volume by P. T. d'Antelmy, with additions by Charles Bossut (1730–1814), was published in Paris in 1775; and Analytical Institutions, an English translation of the whole work by John Colson (1680–1760), the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, "inspected" by John Hellins, was published in 1801 at the expense of Baron Maseres.[16] The work was dedicated to Empress Maria Theresa, who thanked Agnesi with the gift of a diamond ring, a personal letter, and a diamond and crystal case. Many others praised her work, including Pope Benedict XIV, who wrote her a complimentary letter and sent her a gold wreath and a gold medal.[12]
In writing this work, Agnesi was advised and helped by two distinguished mathematicians: her former teacher Ramiro Rampinelli and Jacopo Riccati.[15]
Witch of Agnesi
In Instituzioni analitiche, Agnesi discussed a curve earlier studied and constructed by
Agnesi described the curve as versiera in Italian, which is a synonym for the adjective versoria meaning "turning in every direction".[17] At the same time versiera was used as a term for a "she-devil" or "witch", from Latin Adversarius, an alias for "devil" (Adversary of God). Future translations and publications of the Instituzioni analitiche carried forward the former meaning either as a translation error or possibly as a pun.[18] The curve has become known as the "Witch of Agnesi".[19]
Other
Agnesi also wrote a commentary on the Traité analytique des sections coniques du marquis de l'Hôpital which, though highly praised by those who saw it in manuscript, was never published.[20]
Later life
In 1750, on the illness of her father, she was appointed by
Recognition
In 1996, an asteroid, 16765 Agnesi, was named after Agnesi.
There is a crater on Venus named Agnesi after her.[23]
She is included in a deck of playing cards featuring notable women mathematicians published by the
See also
References
- ^ "Agnesi, Maria Gaetana". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.[dead link]
- ^ "Agnesi". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ "witch of Agnesi". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ Canepari, L. (1999, 2009) Dizionario di pronuncia italiana Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Bologna, Zanichelli.
- ^ WOMEN'S HISTORY CATEGORIES (archived from the original), About Education
- S2CID 143457046. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 December 2014.
- ^ a b A'Becket 1913.
- ^ "Maria Gaetana Agnesi". Agnesscott.edu. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ISBN 9780691158204.
- ^ Spradley, Joseph (2016). Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia. Salem Press – via Ebsco.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-262-15031-6.
- ^ Swaby, Rachel (2015). Headstrong 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World. New York: Broadway Books. p. 179.
- ^ L'Hospital, Guillaume-François-Antoine de (1661-1704) Auteur du texte (1776). Traité analytique des sections coniques et de leur usage pour la résolution des équations... ouvrage posthume de M. le marquis de L'Hospital,...
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d Gliozzi, Mario. "Agnesi, Maria Gaetana". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
- ^ Analytical institutions... (four volumes), London, 1801 vol. 1, p. PR3, at Google Books
- ISSN 0002-9890.
- MR 0370838.
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911, p. 378
- ^ Pickover, Clifford. The Math Book. Sterling Publishing, 2009, p. 180.
- ^ "Agnesi". www.math.twsu.edu. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
- ISBN 0-521-49652-7, p. 112
- ^ "Mathematicians of EvenQuads Deck 1". awm-math.org. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
- Attribution
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- A'Becket, John Joseph (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
Further reading
- Henry Gardiner Adams, ed. (1857). "Wikidata Q115389749.
- "Maria Gaetana Agnesi", Biographies of Women Mathematicians, Agnes Scott College
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. "Maria Gaetana Agnesi". MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive. University of St Andrews.
- EUROPEAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY, NEWSLETTER No. 31, March 1999, S. 18
- D. J. Struik, editor, A source book in mathematics, 1200–1800 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1986), pp. 178–180. ISBN 0-691-02397-2(pbk).
- CSULA Instructional Web Server
- Kramer, Edna E. (1970). "Agnesi, Maria Gaetana". ISBN 978-0-684-10114-9.
- Mazzotti, Massimo (2007). The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Oglivie, Marilyn, Harvey, Joy (2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92038-8
- ISBN 978-0-7734-5226-8.
External links
- Podcast about this scholar
- Google doodle commemorating Maria Agnesi's 296th birthday
- Maria Gaetana Agnesi: bibliographical and biographical references. - Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists