Maria Gaetana Agnesi

Italian mathematician, linguist and philosopher Maria Gaetana Agnesi (May 16, 1718 January 9, 1799) is regarded as the first female mathematician of the Western orld! "he as #orn and died in Milan one of $1 children of the three i%es of &ietro 'gnesi, a ealthy sil( merchant! Maria )aetana*s father employed e+cellent tutors for his child prodigy daughter! 't the age of fi%e, she as fluent in ,rench and at nine she deli%ered a long speech, hich she had translated into -atin, ./ratio 0ua ostenditur artium li#eralium studia femineo se+u neciti0uam a#horre,1 ad%ocating higher education for omen! 2y the time she as 113 she spo(e se%en languages and earned the designations, .Wal(ing &olyglot1 and the ."e%en 4ongued /rator!1 2y 15, she as sol%ing pro#lems in #allistics and geometry!

't age $6, 'gnesi pu#lished Propositiones Philosophicae, a series of essays on philosophy and natural science, #ut regretta#ly, none of her thoughts on mathematics! 7er father esta#lished a .cultural salon1 in their home here his daughter displayed her intellectual talents #y defending one or more of her 191 theses in de#ates ith national and international %isitors! 7er su#8ects included logic, philosophy, mechanics, chemistry, #otany, 9oology and mineralogy! 2et een .performances1 'gnesi*s sister Maria 4eresa, ho #ecame a noted composer, singer and harpsichordist, entertained the assem#lage ith her music! It might seem that &ietro as a #ar(er in a sidesho , e+hi#iting his small, rather shy young daughter as something of an intellectual frea( #efore audiences eager for entertainment at her e+pense! 2ut such e+hi#itions of childish talents ere common in the homes of the ealthy of the time! ' nota#le e+ample as -eopold Mo9art parading his young son 'madeus* musical talents #efore the ell:to:do in the salons of "al9#urg!

4hroughout this period Maria )aetana 'gnesi suffered a recurring illness in hich con%ulsions and headaches ere the prime symptoms! 7er father as horrified hen she as(ed his permission to #ecome a nun! "he agreed to continue li%ing ith him under the condition that in the future she could li%e a 0uiet life free from intellectual performances! 4hereafter she de%oted herself to the study of religious #oo(s and mathematics! "he rote a commentary on )uillaume de l*7;pital*s Trait analytique des sections coniques! 4his as highly praised #y those ho read it, #ut it as ne%er pu#lished! 4he mon(, <amiro <ampinelli, a fre0uent %isitor to her home, assisted her in her study of calculus! 7e had #een a mathematics professor at #oth <ome and 2ologna! 7e encouraged 'gnesi to rite a #oo( on differential calculus! 7er treatise Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventi italiana ='nalytic Institutions for the >se of ?oung Italians), hich as to #e used as a teaching te+t and a guide for students, is a ma8or or( in the de%elopment of calculus! It consisted of t o large 0uarto %olumes of o%er a thousand pages! 4he first %olume, hich dealt ith analysis of finite 0uantities as pu#lished in 1758 and the second, dealing ith the analysis of infinitesimals, as pu#lished the follo ing year! It as ritten in Italian, at a time hen most mathematical treatises ere ritten in -atin, the scholarly language of the day!

'gnesi*s or( contained no original ideas, #ut it pro%ided many e+amples, carefully selected to illustrate the concepts and techni0ues of calculus! 4he or( #rought her immediate fame and as praised #y the 'cad@mie des "ciences in &aris! 4he president of the 'cademy of 2ologna in%ited her to accept the chair of mathematics there! "hortly thereafter she recei%ed a letter from 2enedict AIB formally offering her the position! 'pparently she neither accepted nor re8ected the &ope*s offer, ha%ing no desire to depart her holy, retired life! 'lthough her name appeared on the faculty roles of the >ni%ersity for forty:fi%e years, she ne%er ent to 2ologna! It may #e that the appointment as more li(e an honorary degree, not an actual appointment to a chair, as it is difficult to #elie%e that this %ery

religious oman ould ignore the &ope!

If her contri#ution doesn*t seem on a par ith those of her male mathematical contemporaries, it ould #e a mista(e to underestimate the importance of her or(! 4he calculus had not #een around for %ery long! -ei#ni9 died in 1716 and Ce ton in 17$7! Dalculus asn*t accessi#le to many, partly #ecause it desperately needed clarifying and #ecause it as ritten in the language of scholars! 'gnesi deser%es credit for riting her calculus in the %ernacular to ma(e it accessi#le to as many .young Italians1 as possi#le! "he clarified this ne and enormously important mathematical field! It as the most complete or( on differential and integral calculus up to that point and one of the first calculus te+ts pu#lished after that of -*7;pital in 1696!

'gnesi de%oted only a#out $6 years of her life to mathematics! In 1771 she declined a re0uest from the >ni%ersity of 4urin to referee one of -agrange*s first papers on the calculus of %ariations! 7er Instituzioni is the first mathematical or( ritten #y a European oman that has sur%i%ed! 'fter her father*s death, she de%oted herself entirely to charita#le or(, spending all of her inheritance to esta#lish the Pio Instituto Trivulzio, a hospice for old infirm omen! 2y di%esting herself of her orldly goods, she died in po%erty in the %ery poorhouse here she had #een the director and as regarded .an angel of consolation to the sic( and dying omen!1

4oday 'gnesi is mainly remem#ered in the English:spea(ing orld for a misnamed cur%e, the so:called . itch of 'gnesi!1 'lthough 'gnesi in%estigated its properties, &ierre de ,ermat and others (ne of it earlier! 4he cur%e =,igure F!6) is formed #y dra ing a circle of diameter $a, centered at the point =6, a) on the y:a+is! Dhoose a point ' on the line y G $a and connect it to the origin ith a line segment! Came the point here the segment intersects the circle 2! -et & #e the point here the %ertical line through ' crosses the hori9ontal line through 2! 4he . itch1 is the cur%e traced #y & as ' mo%es along

the line y G $a! 4he alge#raic e0uation that generates this cur%e is y G 8aHI=x$ J 5a$) and the parametric e0uations areK x G $a cot and y G $a sin$ .

,igure F!6

'gnesi ga%e an alge#raic method for finding the cur%e*s point of inflection, that is, here it changes from conca%e up ard to conca%e do n ard! )uido )randi pro%ided the cur%e*s construction in 1718, and #ecause of its shape ga%e it the -atin name .%ersoria1 hich means .rope that turns a sail!1 'gnesi su#stituted the Italian .%ersiera1 for .%ersoria1 in her #oo(! John Dolson, ho had translated Ce ton*s De Methodis Serieru et !luxionu from -atin into English, as so impressed ith her #oo( that late in his life he learned Italian so he could translate it into English! 7e hoped that her e+cellent #oo( ould attract more students to the study of mathematics, especially omen students! 7e completed the translation the year of his death, #ut mistoo( .la %ersiera1 for Ll*a%ersiers1 hich means .the itch1 or the .she:de%il,1 and thus the e+pression . itch of 'gnesi1 as #orn! 4he cur%e is also referred to as .'gnesi*s cu#ic1 and in ,rench, .agn@sienne!1 In fairness to Dolson, the editor of the 1861 translation in hich the name . itch1 first appeared, reportedK .2ut #esides correcting the errors of the press, it as necessary to correct many little slips of the pen, and inaccuracies, hich I found in the copy! ,or, not ithstanding it =the Instituzioni)

as fairly translated for the press in Mr! Dolson*s o n hand riting, it had e%idently #een ritten in haste, and anted re%isions3 and undou#tedly ould ha%e recei%ed it from him, if he had li%ed to superintend the printing of it himself!1

Quotation of the Day: .I do not (no of any or( of this (ind hich is clearer, more methodic or
more comprehensi%e than your 'nalytical Institutions! 4here is none in any language hich can guide more surely, lead more 0uic(ly, and conduct further those ho ish to ad%ance in the mathematical sciences! I admire particularly the art ith hich you #ring under uniform methods the di%ers conclusions scattered among the or(s of geometers and reached #y methods entirely different!1 &ope 2enedict AIB in a letter to Maria )aetana 'gnesi!