Agnesi, Maria Gaëtana

Italian Mathematician and Philosopher 1718–1799

Maria Gaëtana Agnesi was born in Milan, Italy. By the time she was 5 years old, she could speak both Italian and French. Her father was a professor of mathematics in Bologna, and Agnesi enjoyed a childhood of wealth and privilege. Her father provided her with tutors, and she participated in evening seminars, speaking to the guests in languages as varied as Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Spanish.

In her teens, Agnesi mastered mathematics. She became a prolific writer and an advocate for the education of women. After her mother died, Agnesi managed the household of eight children, and educated her brothers. Her father remarried and after her stepmother died, Maria became housekeeper for twenty siblings.

Agnesi continued studying mathematics, mostly at night, and often to the point of exhaustion. In 1748 her mathematical compendium, Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana (Analytical Institutions), derived from teaching materials she wrote for her brothers, was published in two volumes. In this work, Agnesi had not only written clearly about algebra, precalculus mathematics, differential calculus, and integral calculus, but she had also added her conclusions and her own methods. Analytical Institutions remains the first surviving mathematical work written by a woman.

So successful was Agnesi's textbook that it became the standard text on the subject for the next 100 years. Her book was studied and admired not only in Agnesi's native Italy but also in France and Germany, and was translated into a number of other languages.

In his 1801 English translation of Agnesi's work, John Colson, the Cambridge (England) Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, made the mistake of confusing the Italian word for a versed sine curve, aversiera, with another Italian word for witch or wife of the devil, avversiere. Although 200 years have passed, the curve Colson misnamed the "Witch of Agnesi" still bears that name in many calculus texts as an illustration of an "even" function with a "maximum" value. For a = 2, for example, the maximum value of y will be 2. The curve illustrates many basic concepts in calculus.

Recognition

Agnesi was recognized during her lifetime with election to the Bologna Academy of Science. The Pope at the time was interested in mathematics and in 1750 made certain that Agnesi was invited to be an honorary lecturer in mathematics at the University of Bologna. However, Agnesi turned down the appointment and instead adopted a religious life, spending much of her time working among the elderly poor and sick women of Milan.

Although a hospice Agnesi founded has become famous throughout Italy, and Italian streets, a school, and scholarships have been named in her honor, Agnesi is perhaps best known today for her contributions to mathematics.*

*On the centennial of Maria Gaëtana Agnesi's death in 1899, the Italian cities of Milan, Monza, and Masciago chose to remember her by naming streets after the noted mathematician and humanitarian.

Agnesi, Maria Gaëtana

Recognition

Bibliography

Internet Resources