Maria Gaetana Agnesi
Maria Agnesi was born in Milan, Italy on May 16, 1718. During her lifetime she accomplished quite a bit. She was the first woman in the western part of the world to be officially and accurately referred to as a Mathematician. Her largest accomplishment and publication was published when Sir Isaac Newton was still alive and his studies most likely contributed to her own. Nevertheless, Agnesi deserves recognition not only for her mathematical publications but for all she contributed to math, science, and the western world as a whole.
She began her studies of mathematics a very early age. In fact, she began studying all subject matters at the tender age of four years old. This was due to many factors. For one, her father, Pietro Agnesi and mother, Anna Brivio were learned people. Pietro was a professor at the University of Bologna and encouraged Maria's interest in scientific matters. He made sure she was tutored at home by a string of distinguished professors. They challenged her by having her come up with her own theses. She was then to discuss and...
... 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,
Saint Christina of Markyate’s story provides more than the religious experiences of a hermit, it presents twelfth-century life in, mostly, the Huntington area of England in a very detailed manner. Baptized as Theodora, Christina of Markyate’s path of religious devotion is claimed to have begun in her early teen years with a vow of chastity (35). This vow was only known to one other person, a close friend named Sueno, until her parents attempted to arrange a marriage for her. Being described as attractive and intelligent, as well as coming from a wealthy family, this was not uncommon for women in Christina’s lifetime. Upon declining the first suitor, a bishop, her hardships begin and, at times, seem as though they were both unlikely to end and
Loewenberg, Bert J. "The Reaction of American Scientists to Darwinism." American Historical Review. 38 (1933): 687-701.
She was most likely, being a person of upper-class, educated at the appropriate age by private tutors, usually before the age of twelve. Like all Roman women, however, she must conceal her intellect in the company of men, especially if the situation is concerning her husband.
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun was one of the most successful painters of her time. Over the course of her life, spanning from 1755-1842, she painted over 900 works. She enjoyed painting self portraits, completing almost 40 throughout her career, in the style of artists she admired such as Peter Paul Rubens (Montfort). However, the majority of her paintings were beautiful, colorful, idealized likenesses of the aristocrats of her time, the most well known of these being the Queen of France Marie Antoinette, whom she painted from 1779-1789. Not only was Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun the Queen’s portrait painter for ten years, but she also became her close, personal friend. She saw only the luxurious, carefree, colorful, and fabulous lifestyle the aristocracy lived in, rather than the poverty and suffrage much of the rest of the country was going through. Elisabeth kept the ideals of the aristocracy she saw through Marie Antoinette throughout her life, painting a picture of them that she believed to be practically perfect. Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s relationship with Marie Antoinette affected her social standing, politics, painting style, and career.
Gabriela Mistral was an extraordinary woman. Her life was filled with tragedy but she turned her experiences into beautiful poetry. Her poetry reflected many things about who Gabriela Mistral was and what had happened to her throughout her life.
I scramble upstairs with a pillow in hand and plop myself down in front of the VCR. I press the play button and resume the movie. I will sit here for over an hour, mesmerized by the combination of ice and skates. A few tears may roll down my cheeks as I am secretly being touched by this love story.
Female scientists such as Maria Merian and Marquise Emilie du Chatelet had an impact on western science, demonstrating how women were capable of contributing to the sciences despite society’s opinions. Merian published her book Wonderful Metamorphoses and Special Nourishment of Caterpillars during a time when women were criticized for publishing books and demonstrates how society was not able to completely repress women in science (Doc 5). Marquise Emmilie du Chatelet’s letter to the Marquis Jean Francois de Saint-Lambert also demonstrates how women refused to be repressed by society. She refuted his reproach of her translating Newton’s Principia, a translation so thorough it is still used today (Doc 11). Some men in the sciences also gained a respect for women and their contributions. Not all men at the time believed women were incapable of learning at a university level like Junker did. Gottfried Leibniz, a German mathematician, even went as far as to state “women of elevated mind advanced knowledge more properly than do men.” As a philosopher Leibniz likely thought beyond society’s opinions, which is why he did not conform (Doc 7). Johannes Hevelius and Gottfried Krich disregarded the notion that collaborating with women was seen as embarrassing, and both collaborated with their wives (Doc 4 and Doc
One of the strongest women scientist/astronomer was born in 1818 as Maria Mitchell whom led an unbelievable life and had an incredible discovery. Maria Mitchell was born when women were not given the opportunity to vote nor did women have the same equal rights as men did, but given her circumstances of her father being a principal, founding his own school and being a distant family member of Benjamin Franklin she was given the same rights as the men did. Given a few obstacles she led an extraordinary life and became the first woman in America to work as an astronomer professionally, which she than later received an award personally from King Frederick VII, for her work and discovery.
... got an honorary doctorate degree that made her the second woman of the African American descent to receive such an award. Along with these accomplishments, she was a member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics as well as the American Association of University Women.(physics)
As Beyoncé would say, girls run the world. However, that has not always been the case. Women in America were finally granted the right of suffrage in 1920. This means that it has been less than 100 years since women have been able to vote. Even more so, women were still not treated equally among society. They were not given equal pay for equal work until the 1960s. Over in France, Simone De Beauvoir was deciding that women have never been in control. However, studies have shown that women in politics are a benefit to any party involved. They are better negotiators and they are good role models for young girls. Women are great at the negotiating table, but the fact of the matter is that they have not had enough opportunities. “Since the founding of the country, only 2% of members of congress have been women. According to
She was a brilliant mathematician, and used statistics to apply them to achieve her reforms. Florence was a well-educated woman in a number of fields other than math; she had been educated in history, economics, astronomy, science, philosophy, and a number of languages. Her mother taught her how to be social and leadership qualities. Florence was born into an upper-class lifestyle, but she didn't like it. She didn't do things that the typical upper-class child would do, she would care for sick and injured pets, and when she was older she took care of servants who were sick.
Saint Catherine of Siena is the saint that I have chosen to be my saint. She was very interesting to me, and her story was very intriguing. She is the patron saint of fire prevention, bodily ills, sick people, miscarriages, nurses, and illness. She was canonized in 1461 by Pope Pius II. Her feast day is now celebrated on April 29.
Maria's accomplishments began at a young age; by the time she was sixteen she had completed secondary school and taken work as a teacher. In 1891 Maria went to Paris, while in Paris Marie attend Sorbonne University and began to follow lectures of many already well known physicists--Jean Perrin, Charles Maurain, and Aime' Cotton. It was during this time that Marie finally turned towards mathematics and physics. Within three years of attending Sorbonne Marie was already on her way to becoming the most well recognized women in science. Marie was the ideal example of hard work. Receiving her degree in physics from the Sorbonne in 1893, she was not only the first woman to receive such a degree but she graduated number one in her class. In 1894, she received her second degree in mathematics, graduating second in the class.
Augusta Ada Lovelace, known as Ada Lovelace was born in what is now, Piccadilly Terrace, London, on December 10, 1815 (Ada King, countess of Lovelace). Ada Lovelace was a brilliant mathematician who later was introduced to Charles Babbage, whom she started working with. Lovelace translated an article in English and expressed her comments. Ada Lovelace is considered to be the first computer programmer in the 1800’s, and the first female to have written instructions for computer programming (Ada Lovelace Biography Mathematician, Computer Programmer (1815–1852)).