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Laura Bassi
Laura Maria Caterina Bassi Veratti (29 October 1711 – 20 February 1778) was an Italian physicist and academic. Recognized and depicted as "Minerva" (goddess of wisdom), she was the first woman to have a doctorate in science, and the second woman in the world to earn the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Working at the University of Bologna, she was also the first salaried female teacher in a university. At one time the highest paid employee of the university, by the end of her life Bassi held two other professorships.Laura Bassi at Encyclopedia.com She was also the first female member of any scientific establishment, when she was elected to the |
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its metropolitan area is home to more than 1,000,000 people. It is known as the Fat City for its rich cuisine, and the Red City for its Spanish-style red tiled rooftops and, more recently, its leftist politics. It is also called the Learned City because it is home to the oldest university in the world. Originally Etruscan, the city has been an important urban center for centuries, first under the Etruscans (who called it ''Felsina''), then under the Celts as ''Bona'', later under the Romans (''Bonōnia''), then again in the Middle Ages, as a free municipality and later ''signoria'', when it was among the largest European cities by population. Famous for its towers, churches and lengthy porticoes, Bologna has a well-preserved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cartesianism
Cartesianism is the philosophical and scientific system of René Descartes and its subsequent development by other seventeenth century thinkers, most notably François Poullain de la Barre, Nicolas Malebranche and Baruch Spinoza. Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to emphasize the use of reason to develop the natural sciences. For him, philosophy was a thinking system that embodied all knowledge. Aristotle and St. Augustine’s work influenced Descartes's cogito argument. Additionally, there is similarity between Descartes’s work and that of the Scottish philosopher, George Campbell’s 1776 publication, titled ''Philosophy of Rhetoric.'' In his ''Meditations on First Philosophy'' he writes, " t what then am I? A thing which thinks. What is a thing which thinks? It is a thing which doubts, understands, onceives affirms, denies, wills, refuses, which also imagines and feels." Cartesians view the mind as being wholly separate from the corporeal body. Sensation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Bonnet
Charles Bonnet (; 13 March 1720 – 20 May 1793) was a Genevan naturalist and philosophical writer. He is responsible for coining the term ''phyllotaxis'' to describe the arrangement of leaves on a plant. He was among the first to notice parthenogenetic reproduction in aphids and established that insects respired through their spiracles. He was among the first to use the term "evolution" in a biological context. Deaf from an early age, he also suffered from failing eyesight and had to make use of assistants in later life to help in his research. Life and work Bonnet was born in Geneva, the son of Pierre Bonnet and Anne-Marie Lullin de Châteauvieux. Although originally from France, the family had been driven into Geneva by religious persecution of Protestants in the 16th century. At age seven he lost hearing which pushed him into an interest in the natural world. His schoolmates troubled him due to the hearing handicap and the parents took him out and had a private tutor. Bonn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Boscovich
Roger Joseph Boscovich ( hr, Ruđer Josip Bošković; ; it, Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich; la, Rogerius (Iosephus) Boscovicius; sr, Руђер Јосип Бошковић; 18 May 1711 – 13 February 1787) was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit priest, and a polymath from the Republic of Ragusa.Biography: Roger Joseph Boscovich, S.J. Fairchild University website. He studied and lived in Italy and France where he also published many of his works. Boscovich produced a precursor of and made many contributions to |
Francesco Algarotti
Count Francesco Algarotti (11 December 1712 – 3 May 1764) was an Italian polymath, philosopher, poet, essayist, anglophile, art critic and art collector. He was a man of broad knowledge, an expert in Newtonianism, architecture and opera. He was a friend of Frederick the Great and leading authors of his times: Voltaire, Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, Pierre-Louis de Maupertuis and the atheist Julien Offray de La Mettrie. Lord Chesterfield, Thomas Gray, George Lyttelton, Thomas Hollis, Metastasio, Benedict XIV and Heinrich von Brühl were among his correspondents. Early life Algarotti was born in Venice as the son of a rich merchant. His father and uncle were art collectors. Unlike his older brother, Bonomo he did not step into the company, but decided to become an author. Francesco obtained a classical education; also studied natural sciences and mathematics in Rome. While the experimental physics and medicine at University of Bologna under Francesco Maria Zanotti a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cesare Beccaria
Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria, Marquis of Gualdrasco and Villareggio (; 15 March 173828 November 1794) was an Italian criminologist, jurist, philosopher, economist and politician, who is widely considered one of the greatest thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. He is well remembered for his treatise '' On Crimes and Punishments'' (1764), which condemned torture and the death penalty, and was a founding work in the field of penology and the Classical School of criminology. Beccaria is considered the father of modern criminal law and the father of criminal justice. According to John Bessler, Beccaria's works had a profound influence on the Founding Fathers of the United States. Birth and education Beccaria was born in Milan on 15 March 1738 to the Marchese Gian Beccaria Bonesana, an aristocrat of moderate standing from the Austrian Habsburg Empire. Beccaria received his early education in the Jesuit college at Parma. Subsequently, he graduated in law from the University of Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—especially Criticism of the Catholic Church, of the Roman Catholic Church—and of slavery. Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including stageplay, plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and scientific Exposition (narrative), expositions. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. Voltaire was one of the first authors to become renowned and commercially successful internationally. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties and was at constant risk from the strict censorship laws of the Catholic French monarchy. His polemics ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gonfaloniere
The Gonfalonier (in Italian: ''Gonfaloniere'') was the holder of a highly prestigious communal office in medieval and Renaissance Italy, notably in Florence and the Papal States. The name derives from ''gonfalone'' (in English, gonfalon), the term used for the banners of such communes. In Florence, the office was known as Gonfalonier of Justice (''Gonfaloniere di Giustizia'') and was held by one of the nine citizens selected by the drawing lots every two months, who formed the city's government, or Signoria. In the papal states, it was known as Gonfalonier of the Church or Papal Gonfalonier. Other central and northern Italian communes, from Spoleto to the County of Savoy, elected or appointed ''gonfalonieri.'' The Bentivoglio family of Bologna aspired to this office during the sixteenth century. However, by the year 1622, when Artemisia Gentileschi painted a portrait of Pietro Gentile as a gonfaloniere of Bologna, with the ''gonfalone'' in the background, the office had merely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Lira
The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually form the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. It was subdivided into 100 ''centesimi'' (singular: ''centesimo''), which means "hundredths" or "cents". The lira was also the currency of the Albanian Kingdom from 1941 to 1943. The term originates from ''libra'', the largest unit of the Carolingian monetary system used in Western Europe and elsewhere from the 8th to the 20th century. The Carolingian system is the origin of the French ''livre tournois'' (predecessor of the franc), the Italian lira, and the pound unit of sterling and related currencies. In 1999 the euro became Italy's unit of account and the lira became a national subunit of the euro at a rate of €1 = Lit. 1,936.27, before being replaced as cash in 2002. History Etymology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fluid Theory Of Electricity
Fluid theories of electricity are outdated theories that postulated one or more electrical fluids which were thought to be responsible for many electrical phenomena in the history of electromagnetism. The "two-fluid" theory of electricity, created by Charles François de Cisternay du Fay, postulated that electricity was the interaction between two electrical 'fluids.' An alternate simpler theory was proposed by Benjamin Franklin, called the unitary, or one-fluid, theory of electricity. This theory claimed that electricity was really one fluid, which could be present in excess, or absent from a body, thus explaining its electrical charge. Franklin's theory explained how charges could be dispelled (such as those in Leyden jars) and how they could be passed through a chain of people. The fluid theories of electricity eventually became updated to include the effects of magnetism, and electrons (upon their discovery). Fluid theories In the 1700s many physical phenomena were thought of in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archiginnasio Of Bologna
The Archiginnasio of Bologna is one of the most important buildings in the city of Bologna; once the main building of the University of Bologna, it currently houses the Archiginnasio Municipal Library and the Anatomical Theatre. In the heart of the palace is the university Chapel of Santa Maria dei Bulgari, a reflection of history. History The construction of the Archiginnasio dates back to the 16th century, when Piazza Maggiore was drastically remodeled under papal orders; the Fountain of Neptune was built during this same period. The construction of the Archiginnasio was commissioned by Pope Pius IV through the papal legate Charles Borromeo and the vice-legate Pier Donato Cesi during the years of the Council of Trent, who then entrusted the project to Antonio Morandi (known as ''il Terribilia''). The building was begun at the end of February 1562, built very quickly, it was inaugurated on October 21, 1563. The goal of this project was to create a single place where the Scho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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