The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God
eBook - ePub

The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God

About this book

The fascinating true story of mathematician Maria Agnesi.

She is best known for her curve, the witch of Agnesi, which appears in almost all high school and undergraduate math books. She was a child prodigy who frequented the salon circuit, discussing mathematics, philosophy, history, and music in multiple languages. She wrote one of the first vernacular textbooks on calculus and was appointed chair of mathematics at the university in Bologna. In later years, however, she became a prominent figure within the Catholic Enlightenment, gave up academics, and devoted herself to the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the homeless. Indeed, the life of Maria Agnesi reveals a complex and enigmatic figure—one of the most fascinating characters in the history of mathematics.

Using newly discovered archival documents, Massimo Mazzotti reconstructs the wide spectrum of Agnesi's social experience and examines her relationships to various traditions—religious, political, social, and mathematical. This meticulous study shows how she and her fellow Enlightenment Catholics modified tradition in an effort to reconcile aspects of modern philosophy and science with traditional morality and theology.

Mazzotti's original and provocative investigation is also the first targeted study of the Catholic Enlightenment and its influence on modern science. He argues that Agnesi's life is the perfect lens through which we can gain a greater understanding of mid-eighteenth-century cultural trends in continental Europe.

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Yes, you can access The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God by Massimo Mazzotti in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Mathematics & Science & Technology Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction: Another Enlightenment
  8. Chapter One Engaging in a Conversation
  9. Chapter Two Catholicisms
  10. Chapter Three Trees of Knowledge
  11. Chapter Four Choices
  12. Chapter Five A List of Books
  13. Chapter Six Calculus for the Believer
  14. Chapter Seven A New Female Mind
  15. Epilogue
  16. Notes
  17. Bibliography
  18. Index