Laura Bassi, Italian Physicist

Laura Maria Caterina Bassi (1711-1778) was an Italian physicist and academic. She received a doctoral degree in Philosophy from the University of Bologna in 1732, the first woman to earn a professorship in physics at a university. She is recognized as the first woman in the world to be appointed a university chair in a scientific field of studies and one of the key figures in introducing Newton's ideas of physics and natural philosophy to Italy. She was the author of 28 papers, the majority of these on physics and hydraulics, although she did not publish any books. Only four of her papers were printed. Lithograph by A. di Lorenzo, undated

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1711 1778 Bassi Experimental

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