Maria Gaetana Agnesi

1611 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Status of women in renaissance

In a field that has historically been dominated by men, Maria Gaetana Agnesi broke that threshold in the 1700’s with her uncontroverted intelligence in the field of mathematics. Maria Agnesi laid the framework for many other women mathematicians to follow by her contribution of what is now known at the “Agnesi Curve,” as well as writing mathematical textbooks. Her lasting legacy in the field of mathematics makes her one of the most extraordinary women scholars of her day and of all time. Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in Milan, Italy, on May 16, 1718, to her father, Pietro Agnesi and her mother, Anna Fortunata. (Kennedy 1). Maria was the eldest of twenty-one children. (Kennedy 1). Maria was born into a wealthy and literate family as both of her parents came from wealthy merchant families of Milan (Kennedy 1). Maria followed in the mathematical footsteps of her father, Pietro Agnesi, who was a professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna. (Osen 39). Maria Agnesi was born in a time and place when the “best education for a woman was considered to be no education” (Perl 53). In this time, education for women, even the wealthy, was in a poor state and most …show more content…

The first section consists of finite quantities and the discussion of the construction of loci, as well as conic sections (Osen 43). The second section is dedicated to “infinitely small quantities,” which are quantities defined as small in comparison to the independent variable; the proportion is fewer than that of any assignable quantity (Osen 44). The third section deals with integral calculus (Osen 44). The fourth and final section includes “inverse methods of tangents” and differential equations (Osen 44). Agnesi did not make any claim to the original mathematical discoveries, but she did considerably revise the materials in attempt for them to be conveyed in a more concise and organized manner (Kennedy

Show More
Related

  • Anna Pell Wheeler Biography

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... an excellent teacher who inspired all of her students, even if they were undergraduates, with her huge love for mathematics. Aware of the difficulties of women being mathematicians, seven women under her direction received doctorates at Bryn Mawr. Anna took her students to mathematical meetings oftenly. She also urged the women to participate on an equal professional level with men. She had great enthusiasm to teach all she knew about mathematics. She loved learning all she could about mathematics. Anna was a big contributor to mathematics. Anna was gifted in this department. She spent most of her life trying to achieve her accomplishments. She truly is a hero to women. She achieved all of these accomplishments when women mathematicians were very uncommon. She deserved all the awards and achievements she won. Judy Green and Jeanne Laduke, science historians, stated,

    Read More

  • The Significance of Gender Roles in Julia Alvarez's Novel In the Time of the Butterflies

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women are not only assumed to only take care of their family, but to not have the education that they do rightfully deserve. Women can contribute to the world as plentiful and gloriously as men can, but the chances are not given to them. For example, when Minerva tells Trujillo that she dreams of attending the University to study law, he replies "'The University is no place for a woman these days'" (99). Trujillo implies that by going to school to heighten her education, it would be ...

    Read More

  • Christine De Pizan's The Treasure Of The City Of Ladies

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    The achievement of gender equality is one of the most important movements for advancement of society. In the High Middle Ages, however, it was even more challenging to bring such sensitive debate. Christine de Pizan, a highly educated and religious woman, chose an unusual pathway for a woman in her era that she became a writer to support her family. Christine’s work, “The Treasure of the City of Ladies,” could be seen as feminist because she offered a broad view of how an ideal artisan’s wife should be.

    Read More

  • The Time Of The Butterflies Analysis

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the story, there are many examples of women who suffer from a lack of an education. One of the Mirabal sisters, Patria, has a dream of becoming a nun, but Papa does not support her. “It started with Patria wanting to be a nun. Mamá was all for having religion in the family, but Papá did not approve in the least. More than once, he said that Patria as a nun would be a waste of a pretty girl. He only said that once in front of Mamá, but he repeated it often enough to me.” (Ch. 2 pg. 11) Papa believes that a woman cannot be more than a pretty face, that they should not pursue their interests and have an equal position in society. This describes that women were not allowed to become more than they could be. When Minerva tells her family that she aspires to become a lawyer, her mother does not take her seriously: Ay, Dios mío, spare me." Mamá sighs, but playfulness has come back into her voice. "Just what we need, skirts in the law!"(Ch. 1 Pg. 10) This shows that even Mama believes that women should not have a say in certain matters because she has a notion that women were not cut out for things like politics. Sometimes, even the women agree that they should not have equal representation as men. Mama seems to imply that it may be better for woman to preserve one’s innocence and integrity by avoiding politics. Minerva again argues that women deserve equality in their society. This is because at that time, the thought of a woman studying law was unusual. No one believed that a woman would be capable of studying law, which proved that women were not considered equal. Even though women were not given equal opportunities as men, the sisters fought for equality, and

    Read More

  • The Lady of Luminosity: Henrietta Swan Leavitt

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    The androcentric view of history often fails to acknowledge the achievements of notable women who have made profound impacts that have revolutionized the way in which we see the world, as well as the universe. Although the modernized 21st century society is more apt to recognize the achievements of women with an equivocal perspective with men, it was not always so. During the early 20th century, women were consistently denied equality with men due to a perverse androcentric, male-dominated perspective that deemed women as subordinate and insignificant. This androcentric perspective limited the opportunities available to women at the time, leaving them only with domestic occupations that were deemed acceptable for women such as nurses, teachers or clerics. Very few women aspired for higher education, and even fewer achieved it. There were very few colleges that accepted women at the time, save for those erected for women alone. It is because of this, women rarely e...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Perpetua's Passion

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perpetua’s noble birth gave her the stability for education and religious background. As a Roman, women were educated to pass down their knowledge and values

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Michael Guillen's Five Equations That Changed The World

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    Michael Guillen, the author of Five Equations that Changed the World, choose five famous mathematician to describe. Each of these mathematicians came up with a significant formula that deals with Physics. One could argue that others could be added to the list but there is no question that these are certainly all contenders for the top five. The book is divided into five sections, one for each of the mathematicians. Each section then has five parts, the prologue, the Veni, the Vidi, the Vici, and the epilogue. The Veni talks about the scientists as a person and their personal life. The Vidi talks about the history of the subject that the scientist talks about. The Vici talks about how the mathematician came up with their most famous formula.

    Read More

  • Amalie Emmy Noether

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...acknowledged as the greatest women mathematician of the 1900’s, even though she had to go through many obstacles and chauvinism. She was the first women to be accepted into a major college. She proved many of the stereotypes that women were considered to be erroneous, which in the long run also made her a famous person. She was the one who discovered the associative law, commutative law, and the distributive law. These are the Laws that make the basics for Algebra, Geometry, and Basic math. All together she has unquestionably earned the title as the most famous woman mathematician of the 1900’s.

    Read More

  • Sonya Kovalevsky

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    She had many struggles trying to receive higher education because of the restrictions women had when it came to furthering ones education. But after many attempts, she was able to study with the great German mathematician Karl Weierstrass. She worked with him for the next four years and then in 1874, received her doctorate. By this time, she had published numerous original papers in the field of higher mathematical analysis and applications to astronomy and physics. But despite all her attempts, and brilliance, she was still a woman in her time period, and therefore unable to find a job in academia. Weierstrass had tried helping her find a job because he was astonished with her abilities and intellectual capacity, but had no luck because after all, she was still a woman.

    Read More

  • The Status of Women During Renaissance

    330 Words  | 1 Pages

    Some upperclass women had the advantage of recieving an education. However, they were forced to give up their studies once married. A women's first priority was to be a good wife and to please her husband. The thoughts and feelings of women in Renaissance society were not expressed, they were not considered important. This is especially evident in the case of rape.

    Read More

  • Incest and Sexism in Hamlet

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    Vives, Juan Luis, and Charles Fantazzi. The education of a Christian woman a sixteenth-century manual. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Print.

    Read More

  • The History of Women in Education

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Victorian Period receiving an education was an act of unconformity. Women were to be pure, domestic, and submissive and these traits could not be achieved through education. The education of women was thought to disrupt the social balance of time, but in the Victorian Period women were educated because they were mothers of men. They wanted women to teach their children so they had to be educated. Women were stripped of their rights and dignity, but they were finally free to break through the co...

    Read More

  • The History Of Calculus

    1469 Words  | 3 Pages

    Calculus, the mathematical study of change, can be separated into two departments: differential calculus, and integral calculus. Both are concerned with infinite sequences and series to define a limit. In order to produce this study, inventors and innovators throughout history have been present and necessary. The ancient Greeks, Indians, and Enlightenment thinkers developed the basic elements of calculus by forming ideas and theories, but it was not until the late 17th century that the theories and concepts were being specified. Originally called infinitesimal calculus, meaning to create a solution for calculating objects smaller than any feasible measurement previously known through the use of symbolic manipulation of expressions. Generally accepted, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz were recognized as the two major inventors and innovators of calculus, but the controversy appeared when both wanted sole credit of the invention of calculus. This paper will display the typical reason of why Newton was the inventor of calculus and Leibniz was the innovator, while both contributed an immense amount of knowledge to the system.

    Read More

  • The Development of the Concept of Irrational Numbers

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    Burton, D. (2011). The History of Mathematics: An Introduction. (Seventh Ed.) New York, NY. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

    Read More

  • The History of Math

    810 Words  | 2 Pages

    The 17th Century saw Napier, Briggs and others greatly extend the power of mathematics as a calculator science with his discovery of logarithms. Cavalieri made progress towards the calculus with his infinitesimal methods and Descartes added the power of algebraic methods to geometry. Euclid, who lived around 300 BC in Alexandria, first stated his five postulates in his book The Elements that forms the base for all of his later Abu Abd-Allah ibn Musa al’Khwarizmi, was born abo...

    Read More

More about Maria Gaetana Agnesi

Open Document