Laura Bassi: Emblem and primacy

A volume in honour of Laura Bassi was recently presented in Bologna, Italy, at the Accademia dell’Istituto delle Scienze, in the presence of the Undersecretary of State for Education, University and Research, Elena Ugolini.

Laura Bassi, in 1732, became the first female member of the influential Accademia in Bologna. She was the first woman in the world to be appointed to a university chair to teach “universal philosophy” (1732), and later “experimental physics” (1776). The Italian Physical Society and the Italian Society of the History of Science…