New Edition of Playing By Heart is an Amazon #1 release

Monday, September 8, 2025, was the "book birthday" for a new edition of Playing by Heart, my award-winning historical novel inspired by the lives of Maria Gaetana Agnesi and Maria Teresa Agnesi. This edition now includes Book Discussion Questions in the back of the book. I've also made some updates to the cover to distinguish this edition from copies of the older one that may still be available for purchase online. This cover has the title in a new blue font and includes an excerpt from the novel's Booklist review beneath the title. 

 

I was quite surprised to discover today that the book is currently listed as an Amazon "Hot New Release" and the #1 New Release in Children's European Biographies. I don't know how this happened, since the book isn't really a biography. But it is fun to see all the same. 

 

 

More appropriately, Playing by Heart is also listed as a best seller in the "Teen & Young Adult European Biographical Fiction" category, where it's currently #8!

 

 

I have other exciting news about this edition that I'll share in a future post. Meanwhile, you can read more about it and find buy links for purchasing the new edition on the book's page of my website. 
 

 

     

 

Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 306th Birthday

I'm happy to see Maria Gaetana Agnesi's birthday acknowledged in today's Writer's Almanac. However, the article is a bit misleading and includes at least two myths that I have debunked here before:

1. She did not invent or discover the Witch of Agnesi Curve
2. Her mother's death did not keep her from becoming a nun   

As a former newspaper journalist, I'm very annoyed when publications get the facts wrong, especially when I've notified them of their errors in the past. I guess all I can do is continue to point out the mistakes here.  

Meanwhile, I'm pleased to report that earlier this year, in honor of Women's History Month, the American University Library shared an Instagram post about Maria, noting that:

"In our rare books collection, we have a first edition of the English translated work of the Italian mathematician, Maria Gaetana Agnesi." 

 You can read their complete post here.

 

3/3/2024 Instagram post @aulibrary

.

 

Happy birthday, Maria!

Celebrating Maria's Birthday with Another Honor

Today is the 305th anniversary of the birth of Maria Gaetana Agnesi! I'm happy to share that she received another honor just last month: a satellite named for her. 

On April 14, 2023, Satellogic Inc. deployed four new satellites named for women in STEM, including one honoring Maria. Here is an excerpt from the Satellogic, Inc. announcement:  

The SpaceX Transporter-7 mission was completed Friday, April 14, with a two-stage rocket delivering the four satellites designed and built by Satellogic to orbit. The NewSat Mark-IV models include multispectral cameras designed to collect high-resolution imagery from sun-synchronous low-Earth orbit. Satellogic continued its celebrated tradition of naming satellites after remarkable women in STEM and has named these four spacecraft after Joan Clarke, Annie Jump Cannon, Tikvah Alper, and
Maria Gaetana Agnesi.

For the complete list of the women honored to date, see this page of the Satellogic website.

Happy birthday, Maria!

International Women in Mathematics Day and Maria Gaetana Agnesi's Birthday

Monday, May 16, 2022 will be the 304th anniversary of the birth of Maria Gaetana Agnesi. I'm posting a couple of days early because I just learned of another, related, celebration that I missed two days ago on May 12: International Women in Mathematics Day. 

According to this article, the date of May 12 was chosen in 2018:

". . . in honor of Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, born on May 12, 1977, and the first woman to win a Fields Medal, the highest award given by the international mathematical community." 

    Maryam Mirzakhani photo by Maryeraud9, Creative Commons use allowed

Sadly, Maryam Mirzakhani died in 2017 at age 40. She is included in this article listing 14 "Amazing Women in Mathematics."  Maria Gaetana Agnesi is also on the list. I find it interesting that these two women shared May birthdays along with their love of math.

Sharing Another Monument to Maria on International Women's Day

On May 16, 2017, the 300th anniversary of Maria Gaetana Agnesi's birth, she was featured as the "Scientist of the Day" on the Linda Hall Library website. The article, which was written by Dr. William B. Ashworth, Jr., Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City, includes several interesting photos related to Maria and her life. The final photo is a bust of Maria that is featured on the side of Milan's Palazzo Brentani:

Maria Gaetana Agnesi. Detail from the series of decorative busts (portraying "distinguished Italians") on the facade Palazzo Brentani, in via Manzoni street at Milan. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, April 14 2007.

Here's Professor Ashworth's description of the bust:

"The Palazzo Brentani in Milan has a series of 18 portrait plaques that circle the exterior, celebrating important citizens of Milan. Front and foremost, right over the entrance, is Leonardo da Vinci ... , but in the second-best spot, just to the viewer’s left of Leonardo, is a plaque for Agnesi ...."

I'm highlighting the image here today in honor of International Women's Day and Women's History Month. This is the perfect time to remember Maria Gaetana Agnesi and all the other unsung women of history.  

For additional photos of Palazzo Brentani, see this page in Wikimedia Commons.

New Adult Nonfiction Featuring Maria Gaetana Agnesi

I want to post one more quick update to make sure the new email subscription service is working properly. So I'd like to share the title of a new book for adults that mentions Maria Gaetana Agnesi: Forces Of Nature: The Women who Changed Science by Anna Reser and Leila McNeill.

 

A review in the Albuquerque Journal said "The volume has the heft of a textbook, but it’s a readable history."  I look forward to reading it soon. If you get to it first, let me know what you think.

 

Reminder: If you're an email subscriber, you can no longer reply directly to post emails. Instead, please share your questions/comments on the blog page or contact me through my website.

If you don't currently subscribe to the Maria Gaetana Agnesi & Family posts, you can do so by entering your email in the sidebar box.

Carmela 

Quick Fun Fact About Maria Gaetana Agnesi

I usually post about the myths associated with Maria Gaetana Agnesi and her family. But today I thought I'd share a fun fact: there's a crater on Venus named in Maria's honor. While I couldn't find a good image of the crater to share, here's one of the planet Venus:

From nasa.gov

You can read more about the crater here.

According to the MacTutor site, two other female mathematicians have Venus craters named for them: Émilie du Châtelet and Sophie Germain. 

Please note: with our new email subscription manager, you can no longer reply directly to post emails.  If you have questions that you don't want to ask via the comments on the blog page, you may contact me through my website.

If you don't currently subscribe to the Maria Gaetana Agnesi & Family posts, you can do so by entering your email in the sidebar box.

Carmela

Update for Email Subscribers

This is a quick post for email subscribers. Google will be discontinuing Feedburner, which was the software that managed this blog's email list. So I'm migrating my email list to follow.it software. If you follow this blog via email, there are two things for you to be aware of:

1. The "from" field of future emails will now read "follow.it." 
2. In the first email you receive from me via follow.it, you'll need to confirm that you want to continue receiving content from the Maria Gaetana Agnesi & Family website. 

That's it! 

If you don't currently subscribe to the Maria Gaetana Agnesi & Family website, www.MGAgnesi.com, and you'd like to, sign up here.

Carmela

 

Myth-busting and Celebrating on Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 303rd Birthday

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Maria Gaetana Agnesi in Milan, Italy, on May 16, 1718. Sadly, many myths continue to be perpetuated about Maria. Just yesterday, I found a site that offers a "library of teaching worksheets" for classroom use called KidsConnect. At first, I was pleased to see they include a set of worksheets about Maria. But when I read the sample information, I found it riddled with errors. For example, it includes what I called Myth #1 in one of my earliest posts on this site: "Her father, Pietro Agnesi, was a math professor at the University of Bologna." I debunk that myth here. 

Another myth on the KidsConnect page is "Maria’s mother’s death made her retire from public life. She stayed at home and manage [sic] the house, and she was the eldest of 21 children." The page also says: "Aside from completing her own lessons and performances, she was also responsible for teaching her siblings. This task kept her from achieving her own goal of entering a convent, as she had become extremely religious." I explain the error behind statements like these in this blog post. 

I'm especially troubled that these myths are part of information sheets used to instruct children about Maria Gaetana Agnesi. I don't know about the worksheets themselves, but the sample information on the KidsConnect website does not cite any sources. From what I read there, the "facts" seem to have been copied from the Wikipedia entry for Maria Gaetana Agnesi. While Wikipedia does include source references, those sources are unreliable and contain misinformation. That's how these myths keep getting perpetuated. I have sent a message to KidsConnect regarding these issues. We'll see if they respond.

I still hope to publish a nonfiction biography of Maria Gaetana Agnesi for young readers that will provide the true story of her life. Meanwhile, I recommend these two references for the most accurate information we have about Maria:

    A Biography of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, an Eighteenth-Century Woman Mathematician by Antonella Cupillari
    The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God by Massimo Mazzotti (You can follow him on Twitter @maxmazzotti)

On a positive note, today I discovered that the Remarkablz site celebrated Maria with a fun Science Superhero Identity and a game card in their Top Quarkz game. You can read all about it here.  

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Women's History Month 2021

I've mentioned here before that my historical novel, Playing by Heart, was inspired by Maria Gaetana and Maria Teresa Agnesi. Women's History Month feels like an appropriate time to again celebrate the lives of these amazing sisters. 

The novel’s original title was The Second Salvini Sister. I based my main character, Emilia Salvini, on composer Maria Teresa Agnesi, and I gave Emilia an older sister, Maria, who was modeled on Maria Gaetana. I incorporated several events from the Agnesi sisters’ lives into the story. For example, the scene in Chapter Five where Maria Salvini gives a speech defending the education of women is based on Maria Gaetana’s first public speech at age nine. Young Maria Gaetana had translated the speech into Latin herself. She had to overcome her natural shyness when she recited the long speech from memory before a gathering of Milan's aristocracy on August 18, 1727.    

Empress Maria Theresa, 1759

Another real-life event I wanted to include in the novel was a 1739 visit to Milan by future Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. The Empress is obviously a much more well known figure in women's history.

I was thrilled to find a primary source describing the then-archduchess's only visit to the city. Translating a document written in eighteenth-century Italian proved painstaking. Still, it was worth the effort. The document contained wonderful details that helped add authenticity to Playing by Heart. 

I learned that Archduchess Maria Theresa participated in the Ritual of the Holy Nail at the Duomo Cathedral in May 1739. The ritual is still performed annually in Milan. You can watch video clips of the ceremony on YouTube. You’ll find a brief overview with English narration here or the full ceremony in Italian here. 

Here’s an excerpt from the scene in the novel describing the ritual:

“My first glimpse of the archduchess came the next day, which happened to be the Feast of the Cross. Our family joined the crowd inside the Duomo to participate in the twice-yearly ritual of the Holy Nail, a relic believed to be one of the nails from the cross of Christ. The Nail is stored in a crystal case set in the center of an enormous gold cross suspended high inside the cathedral’s dome. The cross can only be reached via the Nivola—a mechanical, cloud-shaped lift said to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself. The lift sits behind the Duomo’s main altar. From where we stood, I could see neither the Nivola nor the three cathedral priests who climbed into it.”

I loved incorporating real events involving notable women of history into my novel. I hope Playing by Heart inspires readers to learn more about these amazing women.

Two Postage Stamps Honoring Maria Gaetana Agnesi

In May 2018, I shared about some of the events being held in honor of Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 300th birthday.  But it wasn't until recently that I learned of additional events commemorating the anniversary: two postage stamps were issued to honor Maria, one by the Italian government and the other by the Vatican.

The stamp issued by the Italian government is one of a set of four celebrating “Italian Female Genius." Agnesi's stamp includes a graph of the "witch of Agnesi" curve named for her. She didn't invent the curve, and the name was the result of a mistranslation. See this post to read more about that.

 

According to WitchOfAgnesi.org, a website devoted to information about Agnesi, the Vatican issued an Agnesi stamp to recognize her as an "outstanding mathematician and impassioned Catholic." The Witch of Agnesi website was established by California State University mathematics professor Shirley Gray, a long-time advocate for recognizing Agnesi's contributions to mathematics. The Vatican stamp depicts Maria in prayer, but it also includes the witch of Agnesi curve on a sheet of paper lying on the floor beside her. 

 

I'm thrilled to see Maria Gaetana Agnesi honored in this way--it was long overdue!

Maria Gaetana Agnesi Biography on MacTutor Site

There's a great deal of misinformation about Maria Gaetana Agnesi online. One of the reasons I created this site was to point out some of those errors. Today, though, I'd like to share a website that sticks to the facts: the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive. The site is hosted by the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. I was pleased to discover that the MacTutor biography of Maria Gaetana Agnesi is based on information from reputable sources, and it includes a list of those sources.

Here's the portrait of Maria included in the MacTutor bio (which is in the public domain):

I commend Edmund Robertson and John O'Connor, the creators of MacTutor, for a job well done!

Celebrating the Novel Playing by Heart, Inspired by the Agnesi Sisters

Monday, Sept. 30, 2020, will mark the third anniversary of the original release of my novel Playing by Heart, which was inspired by the lives of Maria Gaetana Agnesi and her sister, Maria Teresa Agnesi. To celebrate, I'm hosting a book giveaway Sept. 9 through Sept. 30, 2020. You can enter on the blog page of my website.

 If you're not familiar with the novel, here's a brief summary:

     Emilia Salvini dreams of marrying a man who loves music as she does. But in 18th-century Milan, being the 'second sister' means she'll likely be sent to a convent instead. Emilia's only hope is to prove her musical talents crucial to her father's quest for nobility. First, though, she must win over her music tutor, who disdains her simply for being a girl. Too late, Emilia realizes that her success could threaten not only her dreams but her sister's very life.

I incorporated a number of real-life events into the novel, which I explain in the book's Author's Note. And I did extensive research to find details that would help bring the story to life. I feel rewarded for my hard work whenever readers or reviewers comment on the book's details, as the Booklist reviewer did: “Martino’s romantic read features lovable characters and is vibrant in setting and detail.… The book is filled with rich depictions of houses and clothing, allowing readers to clearly picture the historical settings of both Milan and the countryside.” 

The novel has also received some lovely awards. You can read more about Playing by Heart on my website. 

Good News for Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 302nd Birthday!

Let's year, I discovered that The Family Coppola has created a brandy called Agnesi 1799 in honor of Maria Gaetana Agnesi. The brandy is part of their line of "Great Women Spirits." I'm happy to report that the company updated their website information about Maria in response to my feedback regarding the inaccuracies there. The info isn't perfect, but it's much better!

 

So let's toast Maria on the anniversary of her birth as well as the Great Women Spirits marketing staff. Salute!

Let's Drink to Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 301st Birthday!

As I continue my research on the life of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, today I was surprised to discover that there is now an alcoholic drink named in her honor:

According to an article in Sonoma Magazine, The Family Coppola now has a line of "Great Women Spirits" named for several historic women. The spirits include a brandy that, according to the article, "commemorates Maria Gaetana Agnesi, the first woman to serve as a mathematics professor at a university." Called "Agnesi 1799," the bottle bears a portrait of Maria against the backdrop of the curve of The Witch of Agnesi. The number 1799 commemorates the year of her death.

Sadly, the article perpetuates one of the myths associated with Maria: that she was a mathematics professor. Pope Benedict XIV did indeed offer her a math professorship at the University of Bologna, but she turned it down and never served there. The Family Coppola website repeats this fallacy on the brandy's page. The brandy label itself, described on the bottom of the page, indicates that she was the "theorist of the Witch of Agnesi curve." However, as I discussed in my last post, this is a myth. I plan to contact the company about these errors. I'll let you know if they respond. 

Meanwhile, despite the inaccuracies, I'm pleased to see the company commemorate Maria Gaetana Agnesi. Perhaps I can locate a bottle of the brandy to drink a toast in honor of her birthday today!

   

The "Witch of Agnesi"

Back in 2014, I shared a post about an animated Google Doodle in honor of Maria Gaetana Agnesi's birthday that year.The Doodle appears to represent a curve that bears the odd name "witch of Agnesi." Many books and websites say Maria "invented" the curve, but that's a myth. While Maria does discuss the curve in the mathematics textbook she wrote, the fact is that the curve had already been studied by other mathematicians before her. One of those mathematicians, Guido Grandi, had used the term versiera to describe it.

The name "Witch of Agnesi" was invented by Cambridge University mathematics professor John Colson when he translated Maria's math textbook from Italian into English. Colson gave the book it's English title: Analytical Institutions. Unfortunately, when Colson translated Maria's description of the curve, he apparently confused “la versiera” with “l’avversiera,” which means “wife of the devil.” Because of this mistake, Colson named the curve the “Witch of Agnesi” and that's how it's been known ever since. 

Maria, who was devoutly religious, would be horrified at the name!

Celebrating Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 300th Birthday!

May 16, 2018 is the 300th birthday of mathematician-turned-humanitarian Maria Gaetana Agnesi. But Milan, Italy, her birthplace, has special events planned in her honor all year long, including a  program sponsored by Poleticnico Milano on April 19. If you can read Italian, check out the impressive program here. 

Since my research into Maria Gaetana Agnesi's life led me to write the novel Playing by Heart, inspired by her and her younger sister, Maria Teresa Agnesi, I think it only appropriate to sponsor a giveaway of the novel to celebrate this momentous birthday. See my website for details.

I hope that by Maria Gaetana Agnesi's next birthday, I will have found a publisher for the biography I'm working on about her. Meanwhile, happy birthday, Maria!

International Women's Day 2018

Today, March 8, is International Women's Day. 

I can't think of a better day to celebrate the two, relatively unknown,
18th-century sisters who inspired my historical novel Playing by Heart. The sisters are linguist, mathematician, and humanitarian Maria Gaetana Agnesi and musician and composer Maria Teresa Agnesi.

I started this website back in 2010 to debunk some of the myths surrounding the two sisters, especially those about Maria Gaetana Agnesi. Unfortunately, eight years later, there's still an amazing amount of misinformation about the family that continues to be disseminated both in print and online. One of the most annoying myths, in my opinion, is that the father of the Agnesi sisters was a mathematics professor. I discussed this myth back in June, 2010. I'd been pleased at that time to see that the error had been corrected in the Wikipedia entry about Maria Gaetana. Unfortunately, since then, someone has updated the Wikipedia entry so that it is now wrong again!

I still hope to eventually publish a nonfiction biography of Maria Gaetana Agnesi for students ages 10 and up that will provide the true story of her life, as best we can put together. Meanwhile, I recommend these two references for the most accurate information we have regarding Maria Gaetana specifically and her family in general:

• A Biography of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, an Eighteenth-Century Woman Mathematician by Antonella Cupillari
• The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God by Massimo Mazzotti (You can follow him on Twitter @maxmazzotti)

The best information I’ve found regarding Maria Teresa Agnesi and her music is in Volumes 3 and 4 of Women Composers: Music through the Ages, edited by Sylvia Glickman and Martha Furman Schleifer.

I include these references in the Author's Note of my novel Playing by Heart. As I shared here recently, I'm currently offering a special giveaway in honor of Women's History Month. You can read the giveaway details as well as download an excerpt from the novel on this page of my website.

Happy International Women's Day!

Women's History Month 2018

     Today kicks off Women's History Month. I learned a great deal about women's history while researching Playing by Heart. The novel was inspired by the two eldest Agnesi sisters: accomplished musician and composer Maria Teresa Agnesi and her older sister, linguist, mathematician, and humanitarian Maria Gaetana Agnesi. You can read more about Maria Teresa on her page of this site and about Maria Gaetana on her bio page.

     The six-month anniversary of the release of Playing by Heart also occurs later this month. It's hard to believe the book has already been out almost six months! To celebrate, I'm hosting a special "Book Bag & Swag" giveaway on my website. You can find all the details here.

 

Playing by Heart Book Birthday

Playing by Heart, my young-adult historical romance inspired by the lives of Maria Gaetana Agnesi and her sister, Maria Teresa Agnesi, was published today by Vinspire Publishing. Here's a brief plot summary:

Emilia Salvini dreams of marrying a man who loves music as she does. But in 18th-century Milan, being the 'second sister' means she'll likely be sent to a convent instead. Emilia's only hope is to prove her musical talents crucial to her father's quest for nobility. First, though, she must win over her music tutor, who disdains her simply for being a girl. Too late, Emilia realizes that her success could threaten not only her dreams but her sister's very life.

At its core, Playing by Heart is the story of two sisters struggling to follow their true calling, even when it conflicts with their father's goals. It's a clean historical romance appropriate for ages 12 and up.

The early reviews are quite positive. Booklist called the novel a "sweet and pleasurable read," saying also:

"Martino's romantic read features lovable characters

and is vibrant in setting and detail."

—Booklist

And DePaul University Education Professor Roxanne Owens called the novel "a must-read addition for school libraries everywhere." You can read more review excerpts on my website.

To celebrate the book's "birthday" today, I made some panettone, which you can see below. This Italian sweet bread is said to have originated in Milan, the novel's setting.

To watch the book's trailer and enter a giveaway to win a free autographed copy, see my post on TeachingAuthors.com.

I've set up a number of events to celebrate the book's release, both in the Chicago area and online. For details about those, see this page of my website.