Maria Agnesi

Maria Agnesi was born on May 16, 1718 in Milan. She was the oldest of twenty-one sibilings. She was extremely smart at a very early age. She could speak Italian and French at the age of five. She later learned Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, English, and Latin. She later fell in love with philosophy and various sciences due to reading many books. She became a well-known scientist and died at the age of 80.

Maria's acomplishments were sublime to many scientist in her time, especially for a woman. She is the first woman to write a science book, and it is still used to this day. She was also the first woman to be appointed as a professor at a university, The University of Bologna. According to Dirk Jan Struik, "She is the most important woman scientist since Hypatia."

I picked Maria Agnesi because she was a first. What I mean by this, is I feel that people that accomplish things first changed the world in some way. She was the first woman, which is important because women had (and still have) and unfair disadvantige under men, to write a science book and become a professor. Maria changed the path for women scientist and this is why I feel that she needs to be recognized.