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.

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.  

Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by subscribing here.

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!

   

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!

Happy 299th Birthday, Maria Gaetana Agnesi!

We're one year away from commemorating the 300th anniversary of Maria Gaetana Agnesi's birth! While I have yet to find a publisher for the nonfiction biography I've written about her, I'm thrilled to announce the forthcoming release of a young-adult historical romance inspired by the lives of Maria Gaetana and her younger sister, musician and composer Maria Teresa Agnesi. The novel, called Playing by Heart, will be published by Vinspire Publishing this September. I'll be sharing the cover here as soon as it's available. Meanwhile, I'm using this lovely congratulations card a friend made to inspire me as we work on final edits:

I'll also be updating the "About Maria Teresa" page of this site as soon as I get a chance.

Meanwhile, if you'd like more frequent updates about Playing by Heart and my other projects, I encourage you to sign up for my email newsletter. You can do so in the right sidebar of my website.

Happy birthday, Maria Gaetana Agnesi!

Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born on this day in 1718. If you're not familiar with this amazing woman's story, you can read about her on the About Maria page, as well as in all the other posts on this blog.

I forgot to mention in my last post that in addition to working on a biography of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, I'm also writing a young adult historical romance based on her life and that of her composer sister, Maria Teresa. Thanks to the Internet, you can now hear some of Maria Teresa's compositions for yourself, including this one:

You can also read about her here. 

Enjoy!

Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 297th Birthday

As I explained several years ago, I've suspended regular posts to this blog. But I do like to take time once a year to acknowledge Maria Gaetana Agnesi's birthday. This year, I'm happy to note that after a long hiatus, I've returned to working on a biography for children about this intriguing woman. Wish me luck!

Meanwhile, I received an email asking for the names of Maria's siblings. I mentioned in my last post that, as far as we know, she had twenty siblings in all. We also know that one of Maria's sisters, Maria Teresa Agnesi, was an accomplished musician and composer. I mentioned her briefly in this post. You can read about her here.

Maria Teresa Agnesi, younger sister of Maria Gaetana Agnesi

I won't list the names of Maria Gaetana Agnesi's other siblings here. For that information, I suggest you read one of the published book-length biographies of her. I'm not going to do all your research for you!  

Happy birthday, Maria Gaetana Agnesi!

Celebrating Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 296th Birthday

Google is honoring Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 296th birthday today with an animated Google doodle that includes an animation of the curve bearing her name. 

Unfortunately, the doodle's reach is limited to Europe, Australia, and certain areas of Africa, Asia, and South America. While I'm pleased to see Maria recognized this way, I don't know why Google chose not to use the doodle here in the United States. Oh, well.

The good news is that the doodle is helping to spread the word about this amazing woman. Various news sites, like this one, feature reports about the doodle and Maria's life today. The bad news: some of these sites continue to repeat the common myths about her. For example, this site, reiterates the idea that Maria had to care for her 20 younger siblings after her mother died. I addressed part of this fallacy in an earlier post, explaining that her father remarried within two years of her mother's death. I neglected to mention in that post that when Maria's mother died, Maria had only 6 siblings. So she never would have been responsible for all 20 of her siblings.

Also on the good news side: it's now easier to know how to pronounce Maria's name. I shared a post awhile back trying to explain how to say it. I recently found a clip online that I've copied below. If the clip doesn't work for you, you can listen to it here. 

Regular posts to this blog are still on hold, as I explained here. But I couldn't resist making time to acknowledge Maria on the anniversary of her birth. 

A Birthday Present for Maria from the Writer's Almanac

This blog continues to be on hold, as I explained in this post. However, I do want to remind everyone that today is 

Maria Gaetana Agnesi's 295th birthday!

And what better present than an accurate write-up about her in today's Writer's Almanac!

You may recall that on this day in 2011, the Writer's Almanac got her bio wrong, repeating one of the many myths about Maria: that she couldn't become a nun because she had to care for her many younger siblings. As I explained in this post:

While it is true that Maria was shy and devout, her mother's death did not cause her to give up her religious aspirations. She was only 13 when her mother died. Maria may have helped out with her siblings for awhile, but by the time she turned 16, her father had remarried. The reasons for her not entering a convent had nothing to do with her mother's death.

In 2011, I sent the people at Writer's Almanac a note pointing out their mistake. I'm glad to see they've corrected the error.

Happy birthday, Maria! Or, as they say in Italy:

A Not So Pleasant Birthday Present: The Writer's Almanac Gets it Wrong

Although this blog is officially "on hold," I thought I'd take a quick moment to acknowledge Maria Gaetana Agnesi's birthday, and to correct some misinformation posted about her today at The Writer's Almanac. According to the almanac:

"Maria was shy and devout, and she longed to give up her public speaking and enter a convent. Her religious aspirations were dashed, however, when her mother died and she was left in charge of the household and the care of her many siblings."

This information contains another common myth about Maria: that she had to care for her siblings after her mother died. While it is true that Maria was shy and devout, her mother's death did not cause her to give up her religious aspirations. She was only 13 when her mother died. Maria may have helped out with her siblings for awhile, but by the time she turned 16, her father had remarried. The reasons for her not entering a convent had nothing to do with her mother's death.

I guess even inaccurate publicity is better than no publicity, though. I commend The Writer's Almanac for highlighting the fact that today is the anniversary of Maria Gaetana Agnesi's birthday: May 16, 1718.
Sitll, I consider it ironic that they begin their post by saying:

"It is the birthday of one of the first well-known female mathematicians of the Western world."

While Maria Gaetana Agnesi may have been well-known in her day, few people today have ever heard of her.  I hope that I can help change that by finding a publisher for my manuscript. In the meantime:

Happy Birthday, Maria,

or as they say in Italy:

Happy Birthday, Maria!

Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in Milan, Italy on May 16, 1718. It's appropriate, then, that my first post to this blog is dated on the anniversary of her birth. My friend, Fran, pointed out that the day and year of Maria's birth form a number series: 16, 17, 18. That makes it easy to remember. And I have no trouble remembering the month, because I also have a May birthday. :-)  [By the way, here's a math question for you: How old would Maria be today? The answer's at the end of this post.]

When Maria was born, the great cathedral of Milan, known as the Duomo, was still under construction. Work on the cathedral had been started four centuries earlier, in 1386. The building wasn't completed until the early 1800s, years after Maria's death. Here is a picture of an engraving that shows what the cathedral looked like during her lifetime:

Interestingly, this engraving was done by Marc'Antonio Dal Re, the same artist who illustrated Analytical Institutions, the mathematics textbook that Maria wrote. (Dal Re created the illuminated letter in the sidebar for that textbook.) You can see a larger version of the above image, which is in the public domain, on the Wikipedia site.

And here is a section of what the Duomo looks like today (from clipart):

So, have you figured out the answer to the math question: How old would Maria be today? Well, on the date of this post, May 16, 2010, she turns 292! Happy birthday, Maria!