Laura Bassi and Science in 18th Century Europe

Laura Bassi and Science in 18th Century Europe
Author: Monique Frize
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2013-07-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642386857

This book presents the extraordinary story of a Bolognese woman of the settecento. Laura Maria Caterina Bassi (1711-1778) defended 49 Theses at the University of Bologna on April 17, 1732 and was awarded a doctoral degree on May 12 of the same year. Three weeks before her defense, she was made a member of the Academy of Sciences in Bologna. On June 27 she defended 12 additional Theses. Several of the 61 Theses were on physics and other science topics. Laura was drawn by the philosophy of Newton at a time when most scientists in Europe were still focused on Descartes and Galen. This last set of Theses was to encourage the University of Bologna to provide a lectureship to Laura, which they did on October 29, 1732. Although quite famous in her day, Laura Bassi is unfortunately not remembered much today. This book presents Bassi within the context of the century when she lived and worked, an era where no women could attend university anywhere in the world, and even less become a professor or a member of an academy. Laura was appointed to the Chair of experimental physics in 1776 until her death. Her story is an amazing one. Laura was a mother, a wife and a good scientist for over 30 years. She made the transition from the old science to the new very early on in her career. Her work was centered on real problems that the City of Bologna needed to solve. It was an exciting time of discovery and she was at the edge of it all the way.

Writing about Lives in Science

Writing about Lives in Science
Author: Paola Govoni
Publisher: V&R Unipress
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2014-05-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 3847002635

Following discussions on scientific biography carried out over the past few decades, this book proposes a kaleidoscopic survey of the uses of biography as a tool to understand science and its context. It offers food for thought on the role played by the gender of the biographer and the biographee in the process of writing. To provide orientation in such a challenging field, some of the authors have accepted to write about their own professional experience while reflecting on the case studies they have been working on. Focusing on (auto)biography may help us to build bridges between different approaches to men and women's lives in science. The authors belong to a variety of academic and professional fields, including the history of science, anthropology, literary studies, and science journalism. The period covered spans from 1732, when Laura Bassi was the first woman to get a tenured professorship of physics, to 2009, when Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider were the first women's team to have won a Nobel Prize in science.

Her Story! A Tribute to Italian Women

Her Story! A Tribute to Italian Women
Author: Peter Loyson
Publisher: African Sun Media
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2021-03-30
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0620922761

A unique book! Italian women at their best! What talent! This book is a must read for everyone who loves Italian culture and those who appreciate talented women. Extensively researched with hundreds of references, it is a comprehensive encyclopedic analysis highlighting the length and breadth of Italy’s most incredibly talented women, including 114 writers, 56 opera singers, 63 other singers, 55 musicians, 52 film icons, 39 fashion designers, 59 medical women, 40 chefs, 47 artists, 23 academics and 114 sportswomen, amongst others. All discussed in chronological order in each of their fields with many interesting stories, including a chapter on the emigration of impressive female Italian talent.

The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy

The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy
Author: Karen Detlefsen
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 971
Release: 2023-06-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1315449986

The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy is an outstanding reference source for the wide range of philosophical contributions made by women writing in Europe from about 1560 to 1780. It shows the range of genres and methods used by women writing in these centuries in Europe, thus encouraging an expanded understanding of our historical canon. Comprising 46 chapters by a team of contributors from all over the globe, including early career researchers, the Handbook is divided into the following sections: I. Context II. Themes A. Metaphysics and Epistemology B. Natural Philosophy C. Moral Philosophy D. Social-Political Philosophy III. Figures IV. State of the Field The volume is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy who are interested in expanding their understanding of the richness of our philosophical past, including in order to offer expanded, more inclusive syllabi for their students. It is also a valuable resource for those in related fields like gender and women’s studies; history; literature; sociology; history and philosophy of science; and political science.

Observers of the Aurora Borealis in Europe

Observers of the Aurora Borealis in Europe
Author: Eric Chassefiere
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2023-07-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1394226268

The spectacular reappearance of the aurora borealis at the beginning of the 18th century, often observed simultaneously from different observatories in Europe, mobilized and federated a large community of astronomers on a European scale. It encouraged them to communicate the results of their observations and, in compiling exhaustive catalogs of information, has helped to establish a system of the aurora borealis that can be further studied in the future, according to the experimental method inherited from the previous century. This book is dedicated to some of the main aurora observers in Europe and to the human, institutional and philosophical context in which they evolved in the first half of the 18th century. Its reading should be seen as a retrospective journey through the scholarly world of the Enlightenment, during which the same scholars are frequently encountered and reencountered, yet each time in different contexts, or from different angles, with the aim of compiling an account of the swarming of ideas and encounters that constituted the development of experimental science in this pivotal period.

Defensible Faith

Defensible Faith
Author: Robert Ryan
Publisher: WestBow Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2023-07-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

A persistent dumbing down of religious faith and the perception that science is the only path to truth are key reasons the Nones, those with no religious affiliation, represent nearly fifty percent of all young adults in America today. God and science are falsely portrayed as conflicted and innately incompatible. Afraid to offend this new status quo, and unable to defend religious beliefs against increasingly aggressive intellectual bullying, the young have flocked to the safety of no belief. In Defensible Faith, author Robert Ryan demonstrates that God and science are both true and are both necessary in understanding ourselves and the world around us. He looks at how science provides many compelling arguments for belief in God as well as the more philosophical justifications for faith and the evidential basis supporting Christianity. If you have ever struggled to defend your faith in an intellectually well-reasoned manner, then let this book be your guide.

Health and Architecture

Health and Architecture
Author: Mohammad Gharipour
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2021-05-06
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1350217395

Health and Architecture offers a uniquely global overview of the healthcare facility in the pre-modern era, engaging in a cross-cultural analysis of the architectural response to medical developments and the formation of specialized hospitals as an independent building typology. Whether constructed as part of Chinese palaces in the 15th century or the religious complexes in 16th century Ottoman Istanbul, the healthcare facility throughout history is a built environment intended to promote healing and caring. The essays in this volume address how the relationships between architectural forms associated with healthcare and other buildings in the pre-modern era, such as bathhouses, almshouses, schools and places of worship, reflect changing attitudes towards healing. They explore the impact of medical advances on the design of hospitals across various times and geographies, and examine the historic construction processes and the stylistic connections between places of care and other building types, and their development in urban context. Deploying new methodological, interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to the analysis of healthcare facilities, Health and Architecture demonstrates how the spaces of healthcare themselves offer some of the most powerful and practical articulations of therapy.

Laura Bassi–The World's First Woman Professor in Natural Philosophy

Laura Bassi–The World's First Woman Professor in Natural Philosophy
Author: Luisa Cifarelli
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2020-11-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030539628

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.

A Woman in Engineering

A Woman in Engineering
Author: Monique Frize
Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2019-12-17
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0776628623

Her goal: to become a world-renowned biomedical engineer working with scientific societies to improve the role of women in scientific fields and the way scientists and engineers integrate people and society into their work. By 1979, this goal had become a reality. In her memoirs, esteemed biomedical engineer Monique Frize recalls the events that taught her to over-come obstacles, become more resilient, recognize the importance of mentors and role models, and remain focused on the future. She also speaks of her appreciation of the critical role played by family and friends in maintaining the strength and determination required to succeed—and, above all, to succeed in a man’s world. Frize fondly remembers her youth in Montréal and in Ottawa, as well as her marked interest for math and science. Her entry into the world of engineering was both romantic—she met her husband—and tragic. She recounts the prejudice and stereotypes she faced. She pursued a challenging and rewarding international career in a very specialized field at a time when this was still very uncommon for a woman, acceding at the very moment of the tragic École Polytechnique massacre to key positions in support of women in science. These memoirs are sure to inspire young women who have a dream, and more specifically those who wish to enter sciences and engineering.