Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book

Title Laura Bassi--the world's first woman professor in natural philosophy : an iconic physicist in Enlightenment Italy / Luisa Cifarelli, Raffaella Simili, editors
Published Cham : Springer, [2020]

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xi, 149 pages) : illustrations
Series Springer biographies, 2365-0613
Springer biographies, 2365-0613
Contents Laura Bassi: emblem and record in Settecento science, Luisa Cifarelli, Raffaella Simili -- History of Accademia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna, Walter Tega -- Luigi Ferdinando Marsili. European traveller and natural philosopher, Walter Tega -- Newton's legacy: an open field of research, Niccolò Guicciardini -- Physics in the eighteenth century: new lectures, entertainment and wonder, Sofia Talas -- Always among men: Laura Bassi at the Bologna Academy of Sciences (1732-78), Paula Findlen -- Giovanni Bianchi: a sensitive promoter of the world of the women, Miriam Focaccia -- The home laboratory of the couple Verratti-Bassi, Marta Cavazza -- Name index -- Acknowledgements / Credits
Summary This book provides a fascinating insight into the life and scientific work of Laura Bassi, the first female member of the influential Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna and also the first woman to be appointed a university professor in physics, or universal philosophy as it was then termed. The book describes Laura Bassi's research activities and achievements, explaining the influence of Newton, her role in promoting Newtonian experimental physics in Bologna, and her work as an experimentalist, including on electricity. Much attention is paid to the context in which Bassi developed her career. The very considerable difficulties faced by a woman surrounded by male university teachers and members of the Academy are discussed, casting light on the constraints that led Bassi to set up the first experimental physics laboratory in her home, complete with the many instruments required for experimentation and private teaching. The aim is to provide a rounded and well-documented account of the scientific endeavors and achievements of a too often overlooked scientist who struggled to overcome the prejudices of her age
Notes Includes index
Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed January 26, 2021)
Subject Bassi, Laura, 1711-1778.
SUBJECT Bassi, Laura, 1711-1778 fast
Subject Women physicists -- Italy -- Biography
Physics -- Italy -- History -- 18th century
Science -- Italy -- History -- 18th century
Physics.
Civilization -- History.
physics.
Women physicists
Science
Civilization
Physics
Italy
Genre/Form collective biographies.
Biographies
History
Biographies.
Biographies.
Form Electronic book
Author Cifarelli, L. (Luisa), editor.
Simili, Raffaella, editor.
ISBN 9783030539627
3030539628