The first woman scientist in history is honored by the internet giant by dedicating the daily variation of her logo to her.
The doodle chosen for this occasion by Google celebrates the life and work of a woman who marked an era in history. She is the Italian Laura Maria Catarina Bassi , born in Bologna in 1711. On a day like today, April 17, she was recognized as the first woman to obtain the title of professional scientist.
At just 21 years of age, Bassi would enter the history books when in 1732, in the Palazzo Pubblico, residence of the head of the Senate of her native city, she successfully defended a series of 49 responses provided by her in front of seven evaluators. Intellectuals of that time asked him questions on various topics such as physics or the nature of the body and soul. After that, he received as a sign of degree a ring, a book, a laurel wreath and an ermine fur cloak.
Also in that memorable year, Laura Bassi achieved an appointment as a teacher, earning an annual salary of 500 lire. It was the University of Bologna, the longest-lived in history, which appointed the honoree as a professor at its university. In that same year, 1732, the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna elected her as a member, being the first woman to obtain this distinction.
At a time marked by gender inequality, our award-winning researcher managed in 1776 to be named president of Experimental Physics at the University of Bologna. She was able to teach at said educational entity after decades of refusals to said request, which was recognized by Google in an article dedicated to Bassi highlighting “her fight for gender equality throughout her pioneering career.”
In 1778, just two years after her start as an official professor, Laura Catarina Bassi died at the age of 66; But as we can see in this well-deserved tribute to the world’s greatest search engine, the legacy of the first woman scientist in history continues to exist.