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dc.contributor.authorMazzotti, Massimoen_GB
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Exeter. At the time of publication, the author was at the University of Toronto.en_GB
dc.date.accessioned2008-05-29T13:38:49Zen_GB
dc.date.accessioned2011-01-25T10:54:45Zen_GB
dc.date.accessioned2013-03-20T15:59:54Z
dc.date.issued2001-12en_GB
dc.description.abstractMaria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799) was known as the author of a textbook on calculus that appeared in Milan in 1748. For the first time a woman was able to establish herself as a legitimate mathematician and publish her work. This essay reconstructs the religious and scientific culture in which the textbook originated and considers lesser-known aspects of Agnesi's life and thought. It argues that Agnesi was a principal exponent of the "Catholic Enlightenment" in Italy and that her spiritual practice, pious activity, and innovative pedagogical ideas profoundly shaped her approach to mathematics. The study suggests that the reformist culture of the Catholic Enlightenment provided the conditions that enabled a few talented women to access privileged forms of knowledge and social life; it may be one factor that accounts for the unusual presence of learned women in Italian scientific institutions during the early eighteenth century.en_GB
dc.identifier.citation92 (4), pp.657-683en_GB
dc.identifier.doi10.1086/385354en_GB
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10036/28899en_GB
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherUniversity of Chicago Pressen_GB
dc.relation.urlhttp://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/385354en_GB
dc.subjectAgnesi, Maria Gaetanaen_GB
dc.subjectmathematicsen_GB
dc.subjectmathematiciansen_GB
dc.subjectCatholic Enlightenmenten_GB
dc.subjectMilanen_GB
dc.subject18th centuryen_GB
dc.subjectcalculusen_GB
dc.subjectItalian Enlightenmenten_GB
dc.titleMaria Gaetana Agnesi: mathematics and the making of the Catholic Enlightenmenten_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.date.available2008-05-29T13:38:49Zen_GB
dc.date.available2011-01-25T10:54:45Zen_GB
dc.date.available2013-03-20T15:59:54Z
dc.identifier.issn0021-1753en_GB
dc.description© The History of Science Societyen_GB
dc.identifier.journalIsisen_GB


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