Maria Gaetana Agnesi was an eighteenth century Italian mathematician,
philosopher and theologian. From the childhood, she was educated at home
by a string of learned men of the church. By the age of eleven, she
could speak fluently in seven different languages and began to be known
as ‘The Seven Tongued Orator’. Even when she was a child, she was
prodded by her ambitious father to speak on different topics in front of
an august gathering of learned men, many of whom were internationally
renowned scholars. In such gatherings she not only spoke on different
topics in fluent Latin, but was also required to defend her theses.
Moreover, when foreign scholars asked her complicated questions in their
native tongue she always answered them in the same language. However,
she disliked such obvious display of her intellect and withdrew from
such activities in the pretext of her household duties once her mother
died, but continued academic activities under the guidance of renowned
scholars. Once her father died, she gave up even that. She then started
studying theology and devoted her life entirely to the service of the
poor.
Major Works
- ’Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana’, published in 1748 was her best work. It provides a systematic as well as most comprehensive treatment of algebra. Relatively new developments such as as integral and differential calculus were also been included in it. In the first volume she dealt with analysis of finite quantities while the second volume dealt with analysis of infinitesimals.
