: Woman in Science With an Introductory Chapter on Woman's Long Struggle for Things of the Mind by Zahm J A John Augustine - Women History; Women scientists

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Among the many inventions attributed to Hypatia, besides the planisphere and astrolabe which she designed for the use of astronomers, are several employed in the study of natural philosophy. Probably the most useful of these is an areometer mentioned by her pupil Synesius. He calls it a hydroscope and describes it as having the form and size of a flute, and graduated in such wise that it can be used for determining the density of liquids. That Hypatia was thoroughly familiar with the science of natural philosophy, as then known, there can be no doubt. That she also contributed materially to its advancement, as well as to that of astronomy, in which she always exhibited a special interest, there is every reason to believe.

All things considered, the Marquise du Ch?telet deservedly takes high rank in the history of mathematical physics. In this department of science she has had few, if any, superiors among her own sex. And, when we recollect that she labored while the foundations of dynamics were still being laid, we shall more readily appreciate the difficulties she had to contend with and the distinct service which her researches and writings rendered to the cause of natural philosophy among her contemporaries.

The first woman to occupy a chair of physics in a university was the famous daughter of Italy, Laura Maria Catarina Bassi. She was born in Bologna in 1711--but five years after the birth of Madame du Ch?telet--and from her most tender years she exhibited an exceptional facility for the acquisition of knowledge.

After she had, through the assistance of excellent masters, become proficient in French and Latin, she took up the study of logic, metaphysics and natural philosophy. In all these branches of learning her progress was so rapid that it far exceeded the fondest expectations of her parents and teachers. Thanks to a wonderful memory and a highly developed reasoning faculty, she was able, while still a young maiden, to prove herself the possessor of knowledge that is ordinarily obtained only in the maturity of age and after long years of systematic study.

When she had attained the twenty-first year of her age she was induced by her family and friends--much against her own inclination, however--to take part in a public disputation on philosophy. Her entering the lists against some of the most distinguished scholars of the time was made the occasion for an unusual demonstration in her honor. The hall of the university in which such intellectual jousts were generally held was too small for the multitude that was eager to witness the young girl's formal appearance among the scholars and the notables of the old university city. It was, accordingly, arranged that the disputation should be held in the great hall of the public Palace of the Senators.

When the argumentation began the young girl found herself pitted against five of the most distinguished scholars of Bologna. But she was fully equal to the occasion and passed the ordeal to which she was subjected in a manner that excited the admiration and won the plaudits of all present. Cardinal Lambertini was so impressed with the brilliant defence which she had made against the five trained dialecticians and the evidence she gave of varied and profound learning that he paid her a special visit the next day in her own home to renew his congratulations on her signal triumph and to encourage her to continue the prosecution of her studies.

In less than a month after this interesting event Laura Bassi, in response to the expressed desire of the whole of Bologna, presented herself as a candidate for the doctorate in philosophy. This was the occasion for a still more brilliant and imposing ceremony. It was held in the spacious Hall of Hercules in the Communal Palace, which was magnificently decorated for the splendid function. In addition to the distinguished personages who had been spectators of the fair student's triumph a few weeks before, there was present in the vast audience the noted French ecclesiastic, Cardinal Polignac, who was on his way from Rome to France.

The heroine of the hour, dressed in a black gown, was ushered into the great hall, preceded by two college beadles and accompanied by two of the most prominent ladies of the Bolognese nobility. She was given a seat between the chancellor and the prior of the university, who, in turn, were flanked by the professors and officials of the institution.

So profound was the impression made on the university senate by the deep erudition of Laura Bassi that it was eager to secure her services in its teaching body. But, before she could be offered a chair in the institution, long-established custom required that she should pass a public examination on the subject matter which she was to teach. Five examiners were chosen by lot, and all of them proved to be men whose names, says Fantuzzi, "will always be held by our university in glorious remembrance." They had all to promise under oath that the candidate for the chair should have no knowledge before the examination of the questions which were to be asked, and that the test of the aspirant's qualifications to fill the position sought should be absolutely free from any suspicion of favoritism or partiality.

Notwithstanding the difficulties she had to confront, Laura acquitted herself with even greater credit than on former occasions of a similar character. There was no question in the mind of any one present at the examination of the candidate's ability to fill the chair of physics, and it was, accordingly, offered to her by acclamation.

A few years after she had become a member of the university faculty Laura was a European celebrity, and no one eminent by learning or birth passed through Bologna without availing himself of the opportunity of making the acquaintance of so extraordinary a woman. Men of science and letters vied with princes and emperors in doing honor to one who was looked upon by many as being, like Arete of old, endowed with a soul and a genius far above that of ordinary mortals, and as being the possessor of a talent that indicated something superhuman.

Laura Bassi was in constant correspondence with the most celebrated scholars of Europe, and more especially with those who had attained eminence in her special line of work. Among the letters received from her illustrious correspondents were two from Voltaire. They were written shortly after the author had been refused admittance into the French academy. He then bethought himself of securing membership in the Academy of Sciences of Bologna. This, he reasoned, would be a splendid tribute to the versatility of his genius and would, at the same time, be a biting satire on the demigods of French literature who had dared to exclude him from their society.

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