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Pioneering female scientist in 18th century Bologna
Laura Bassi was a pioneering Italian physicist and academic in the 18th century, who was one of the first woman in the world to reach a series of milestones in science and education.
Born in Bologna in 1711, Bassi was privately tutored during her childhood, receiving an education in the sciences and mathematics.
She attended the University of Bologna where she was awarded a doctorate degree in 1732. She was the first woman in the world to receive a doctorate in science, and only the second woman to receive a philosophy doctorate (the first being Elena Cornaro Piscopia).
She then began working at the University of Bologna, making her the first salaried female teacher in the university and in the world.
However, as a woman, she was more restricted in delivering public lectures than her male colleagues, as the univerisity believed that women should live private lives. Throughout her time working at the University of Bologna, she campaigned to be treated as an equal to the university's male lecturers, but to no avail.
Bassi's work had a profound impact on the field of physics, influencing the work of many of her contemporaries and future scientists. Her research paved the way for further discoveries in the field and helped to establish it as a separate discipline. She authored around 28 different papers, the majority of which were on physics and hydraulics.
Bassi was a strong advocate for the education of women and worked to increase their access to higher education in the sciences. As the first woman in her field, she became well-known and was popularly depicted as a 'Bolognese Minerva', the Roman goddess of wisdom and arts.
Later in her career, in the 1750s, she was granted permission to start private lessons and was given funding to do experiments from her home. This allowed her to avoid the restrictions placed by the university regulations. At the same time, she was among the highest paid employee of the university.
By the end of her life, she was also a Professor in two other institutions - the Collegio Montalto and the Academy of the Institute for Sciences in Bologna.
Bassi died in 1778, aged 66. She is remembered today as a pioneering figure in physics and a trailblazer for women in the sciences.