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Maria Gaetana Agnesi

Maria Gaetana Agnesi

1718 CE1799 CE · Milan

Maria Gaetana Agnesi (16 May 1718 – 9 January 1799) was a Milanese mathematician, philosopher, theologian, and humanitarian. She was the first woman to write a mathematics handbook, the first woman appointed as a mathematics professor at a university and the second woman appointed as a professor overall. She is credited with writing the first book discussing both differential and integral calculus and was a member of the faculty at the University of Bologna, although she never served. She devoted the last four decades of her life to studying theology (especially patristics) and to charitable work and serving the poor. She was a devout Catholic and wrote extensively on the marriage between intellectual pursuit and mystical contemplation, most notably in her essay Il cielo mistico (The Mystic Heaven). She saw the rational contemplation of God as a complement to prayer and contemplation of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini, harpsichordist and composer, was her sister.

Adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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MilanItaly

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About Milan

Milan is a northern Italian city that served as the western capital of the Roman Empire and became a pivotal center of early Christianity through its influential bishopric.

In Milan at the same time

Roger Joseph Boscovich

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