Maria Gaetana Agnesi

Maria Gaetana Agnesi ( born May 16, 1718, Milan, † January 9, 1799 ibid ) was an Italian mathematician and philanthropist.

Life

She came from a wealthy merchant family and was the oldest of 21 children. In particular, her father encouraged her mathematical talent and helped her to gain a good education. When she was 21 years old, she wanted to enter the convent. Her father, however, was against it, and Agnesi respected that wish. For a decade, she was devoted to mathematics and the sciences, and in 1748 her work was published Instituzioni analitiche ( Foundations of Analysis ).

Maria Gaetana Agnesi devoted her book of the Empress Maria Theresa and was handsomely rewarded by the gratitude with jewels. By Pope Benedict XIV in 1748 she was appointed professor at the University of Bologna. However, it has never taught there, even though their known time comrade, the physicist Laura Bassi, she repeatedly begged.

When Maria Agnesi was 34 years old, her father died. From then on she was the science in favor of their faith and charitable activities. She studied theology and took care of the poor and sick. First she still lived in the house of her parents, but later they rented a house where they granted homeless accommodation.

In 1771 she took over the management of a retirement home for women. For 28 years she devoted herself to the device which is home to 450 residents in the year of her death.

Her sister Maria Teresa was in her time famous and successful composer and musician (vocals and harp). In contrast to the reclusive, church-related sister Maria Gaetana she is described as gallant and sophisticated.

Writings

• Until today, the versiera of Agnesi, an algebraic curve which was investigated by Maria Agnesi and published in 1748.
• Your Introduction to the Analysis Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana 1748 published in Milan and translated into French and English later.