18th-Century woman who loved calculus and God

Thursday, May 24th, 2018

Maria Gaetana Agnesi was an 18th-century mathematician who became the first woman to write a major calculus textbook.

In 1739, she told her father she wanted to become a nun. He balked, but agreed to let her spend more time studying mathematics and theology.

Agnesi never entered a convent, but she also never married or had children, taking an alternate path as a lay Catholic who devoted her life to acts of charity. Read more

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News category: Odd Spot.

Tags: Science, Women

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