Maria Gaetana Agnesi

Born on 16 May 1718 in Milan, Habsburg Empire (now Italy), Maria Gaetana Agnesi was one of the first female mathematicians in Europe. Agnesi was the oldest of 21 children of an affluent and ambitious silk merchant. Educated by a series of tutors, Agnesi had mastered seven languages by the time she was 11, and as a teenager she would spend evening soirées at her family’s home discussing complex mathematical and philosophical topics with the intellectual guests. Extremely shy, Agnesi only participated at the instigation of her father. She was also deeply religious and at one time had asked to join a convent, a request that her father refused. Over her lifetime, Agnesi published two major treatises: The Propositiones Philosophicae (Propositions of Philosophy; 1738), a series of essays on philosophy and natural science based on the discussions during her father’s soirées, and the Instituzioni Analitiche (Analytical Institutions; 1748), a math textbook in which she compiled the work of multiple mathematicians. The latter, being one of the first and most complete works on finite and infinitesimal analysis, was translated into several languages and used as a textbook throughout Europe. Agnesi became perhaps best known for her equation for a cubic curve, which, due to a translation error concerning the Italian term versiera, came to be called the “witch of Agnesi.” In 1750 she was appointed by Pope Benedict XIV as chair of mathematics and natural philosophy at the University of Bologna, a post she never filled. After the death of her father in 1752, she chose instead to spend the next half century helping the poor and homeless, especially women. In 1771 she became the director of the Pio Albergo Trivulzio, a hospice for elderly women, where she served until her death in 1799. (Engraving in image by Guadagnini)

Date in History: 16 May 1718