Laura Maria Caterina Bassi Veratti was an Italian physicist and academic. Recognized and depicted as "Minerva", 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 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. She was also the first female member of any scientific establishment, when she was elected to the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna in 1732 at 21.
Laura Bassi
Portrait of Laura Bassi at the University of Bologna.
Portrait of Laura Bassi (1732)
Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna
The Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna is an academic society in Bologna, Italy, that was founded in 1690 and prospered in the Age of Enlightenment. Today it is closely associated with the University of Bologna.
Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, the founder of the Institute
Jacopo Riccati, who introduced the Riccati equation and was regarded as one of the most influential mathematicians of the 2nd millennium
Pope Benedict XIV was a major benefactor of the Institute.
Seventeenth century globe in the Palazzo Poggi
