Maria Gaetana Agnesi Facts
Maria Gaetana Agnesi Facts
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| Interesting Maria Gaetana Agnesi Facts: |
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| Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in a wealthy family in Milan. |
| Her father was a mathematics professor at the University of Bologna. |
| She was gifted in languages as a child and by the age of 11 she spoke Italian, French, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, German and Latin. |
| At the age of 9 she composed and delivered an hour long speech in Latin defending a woman's right to an education. |
| At the age of 12 she developed epilepsy and at the age of 14 began studying ballistics and geometry. |
| Her father hosted a regular gathering of intellectuals which she attended and in which she participated. |
| Accounts of the meetings and her contributions were given by Charles de Brosses in his Lettres sur l'Italie. |
| After the death of her mother in 1717 her father married twice and eventually Agnesi was the tutor to 21 siblings and half-siblings. |
| Although her father refused to let her enter a convent as she wished, he did let her retire from public life and devote herself to the study of mathematics. |
| In 1748 her valuable work, Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventu italiana, was published in Milan and was regarded and the best treatment of Euler and integrated mathematical analysis with algebra. |
| In 1801 the book was translated into English and approved by John Colson, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. |
| Agnesi dedicated the work to the Empress Maria Theresa who thanked her with the gift of a diamond ring, and a diamond and crystal case. |
| Pope Benedict XIV wrote a letter in praise of her work and sent her a gold medal. |
| Her father died in 1752 and she devoted the remainder of her life to the study of theology and service to the poor. |
| In 1783 she became the founder and director of Opera Pia Trivulzio, a home for the elderly. |
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