Faustina Pignatelli

Last updated
Faustina Pignatelli Carafa
Born9 December 1705
Died30 December 1769
NationalityItalian
OccupationMathematician
SpouseFrancesco Domenico Carafa

Faustina Pignatelli Carafa, princess of Colubrano (9 December 1705-30 December 1769), [1] was an Italian mathematician and scientist from Naples. She became the second woman (after the Bolognese physicist Laura Bassi) [2] to be elected to the Academy of Sciences of Bologna on 20 November 1732. [3]

In 1734, Faustina published a paper titled Problemata Mathematica using the name "anonima napolitana" (a Latin phrase meaning "anonymous female from Naples"), in the German scientific journal Nova Acta Eruditorum , which was published entirely in Latin. [2]

Alongside her brother Peter, she was educated by Nicola De Martino and was instrumental in introducing the theories of Isaac Newton to Naples. She was an important participator in the scientific debate in Italy and corresponded with the French Academy of Sciences. [2] [4]

Upon her marriage to the poet Francesco Domenico Carafa in 1724, she was given the principality Colubrano in southern Italy as a dowry by her father. [2]

Francesco Maria Zanotti, secretary of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna from 1723 to 1766, mentioned her as a gifted mathematician in 1745. [2] [4]

She was a Dame of the Order of the Starry Cross from 3 May 1732. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pietro Metastasio</span> Italian poet and librettist (1698–1782)

Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Bologna</span> Public university in Bologna, Italy

The University of Bologna is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (studiorum), it is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and the first degree-awarding institution of higher learning. At its foundation, the word universitas was first coined. The university's emblem carries the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, the date A.D. 1088. With over 90,000 students, the University of Bologna is one of the largest universities in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniello Bartoli</span> Italian Jesuit writer and historiographer

Daniello Bartoli, SJ was an Italian Jesuit writer and historiographer, celebrated by the poet Giacomo Leopardi as the "Dante of Italian prose"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Severi</span> Italian mathematician (1879–1961)

Francesco Severi was an Italian mathematician. He was the chair of the committee on Fields Medal on 1936, at the first delivery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Bassi</span> Italian physicist and academic (1711–1778)

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 also 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Naples Federico II</span> University in Naples, Italy

The University of Naples Federico II is a public research university in Naples, Campania, Italy. Established in 1224 and named after its founder, Frederick II, it is the oldest public, secular, non-sectarian or state-funded university in the world, and one of the world's ten oldest universities in continuous operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elena Cornaro Piscopia</span> Venetian philosopher (1646–1684)

Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia or Elena Lucrezia Corner, also known in English as Helen Cornaro, was a Venetian philosopher of noble descent who in 1678 became one of the first women to receive an academic degree from a university and the first to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincenzo Riccati</span> Italian mathematician and physicist (1707–1775)

Vincenzo Riccati was a Venetian Catholic priest, mathematician, and physicist.

Luigi Ferrarese was an Italian physician and the leading proponent of phrenology in Italy in the nineteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pier Luigi Carafa (1677–1755)</span> Italian cardinal

Pier Luigi Carafa, Junior was an Italian cardinal from the famous Neapolitan family of Italian nobles, clergy, and men of arts. He served the papacy as Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals and as Dean of same College. He is currently buried at Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in Rome.

Maria Luisa Altieri Biagi was an Italian scholar and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eustachio Manfredi</span> Italian mathematician, astronomer and poet (1674–1739)

Eustachio Manfredi was an Italian mathematician, astronomer and poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Pignatelli</span>

The House of Pignatelli is the name an old and prominent Neapolitan family of Italian nobility, clergy, men of arts and sciences, whose members occupied significant positions in 18th and 19th century. The family has been regionally prominent since the 13th century. Among various titles, they held the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberto Pappiani</span> Italian mathematician and astronomer

Alberto Pappiani (1709–1790) was an Italian mathematician, astronomer, and theologian.

Giuseppe Maria Pignatelli, C.R. (1660–1703) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Cava de' Tirreni (1696–1703).

CavaliereCarlo Antonio Fornasini was an Italian ivory trader and amateur field naturalist who worked in Mozambique. He collected numerous specimens of animals, insects and plants, and presented them to the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna in his home city for scientific study. He is remembered for having had several taxa named in his honour during his lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisabeth van den Eynde, Princess of Belvedere</span>

Elisabeth van den Eynde, Princess of Belvedere and suo jure Baroness of Gallicchio and Missanello was an Italian noblewoman. She was the consort of Carlo Carafa, 3rd Prince of Belvedere, 6th Marquess of Anzi, and Lord of Trivigno, and the daughter of Ferdinand van den Eynde, 1st Marquess of Castelnuovo and Olimpia Piccolomini, of the House of Piccolomini. Her grandfather was Jan van den Eynde, a wealthy Flemish merchant, banker and art collector who purchased and renovated the Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano in 1653. Her father Ferdinand, the Marquess of Castelnuovo, built the Vandeneynden Palace of Belvedere between 1671 and 1673. While the Palazzo Zevallos in central Naples passed to her elder sister Giovanna, who married a Colonna heir, Elisabeth was given the monumental Palazzo Vandeneynden, alongside a smaller portion of the Marquess' assets, which included his art collection, one of the largest and most valuable in Naples and its surroundings. Upon her marriage to Carlo Carafa, the Vandeneynden Palace came to be known as Villa Carafa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pietro Napoli Signorelli</span> Italian scholar and historian (1731–1815)

Pietro Napoli Signorelli was an Italian scholar of classic literature, mainly drama, and historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlo Capece Galeota</span> Duke of Regina

Don Carlo Capece Galeota was an Italian nobleman, holding the titles of Duke of Regina and Duke of Sant'Angelo a Fasanella from the death of his father Francesco Capece Galeota in 1838 to his own death in 1908. From 1889 onwards, Carlo was also recognized as the heir to the extinct Tocco family, as he was a matrilineal descendant of the family, assuming their titles of Prince of Montemiletto and titular Prince of Achaea, among others.

References

  1. "PIGNATELLI, Faustina in "Dizionario Biografico"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Pignatelli, Carafa Faustina, principessa di Colubrano — Scienza a due voci". scienzaa2voci.unibo.it. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  3. Ancient Archives of the Accademia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna. Atti, fasc. 5.
  4. 1 2 Bertucci, Paola (2013). "The In/visible Woman: Mariangela Ardinghelli and the Circulation of Knowledge between Paris and Naples in the Eighteenth Century". Isis. 104 (2): 226–249. doi:10.1086/670946. PMID   23961687. S2CID   6638864.
  5. appresso Gio. Tomaso Trattner, stampatore di corte, ed. (1761). La radunanza nobile, e pia della crociera fondata dalla sacra cesarea real maestà dell'imperatrice Eleonora per clementissimo comando della S.C.R.M.A (in Italian). In Vienna. p. 56.