Read the article about an eighteenth-century scientist called Laura Bassi, and then complete the notes. You may well not be familiar with the name Laura Bassi, unless of course you live on Via Laura Bassi Veratti, a street in Bologna, Italy. However, in the second half of the eighteenth century, she was very famous indeed. Laura Bassi was born in Bologna, in 1711. When she was a young child, her mother was frequently ill, so the family's doctor would often be called to their home. He quickly observed how interested Laura was in learning, and he offered to be her tutor in the subject of philosophy - which in those days was a subject that all doctors learned as part of their medical education. It soon became apparent that she was incredibly intelligent - so much so that eventually, in her later life, she became a physics professor at a European university - something that no woman had ever done previously. Her name is often associated with a passion for learning, and in fact there is now a high school in Bologna called after her. By the time Laura Bassi was in her early twenties, virtually everyone in Bologna knew of her. People would crowd into the family's house to listen to her discussing a wide range of topics, especially physics. In 1732, she took part in a public debate with four professors from the University of Bologna, and it was shortly after this that she became a member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences. That was another first for a woman. Soon afterwards, she received a doctorate (PhD) in science - the earliest record of a woman doing so. However, she was not the first woman to receive a doctorate - records show that a woman called Elena Cornaro Piscopia had earned a doctorate in philosophy 54 years earlier, in 1678. After Laura Bassi was awarded her doctorate, she received the offer of a paid teaching position at the university, which was again unheard of for a woman at that time. However, due to university regulations, women were not allowed to teach publicly, so instead she went on to open a school in her own home. She set up a private physics laboratory there, something which had never been done before. During her career, Laura Bassi was inspired to research topics that were not very fashionable at the time, including electricity. This is why an organisation recently set up the Laura Bassi scholarship. This is a sum of money intended for postgraduate students studying topics that are largely ignored by other academics. Laura Bassi married another scientist, Giuseppe Veratti, in 1738, and the couple had several children. However, she did not stop working, and she is considered to be the first woman to have an entire career in science. Although she is not particularly well known among the general public, she is recognised across the scientific community. For example, when the British Antarctic Survey sold their research ship to the Italian organisation, the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics, it was renamed Laura Bassi. There is also a crater on the surface of the planet Venus that is known as Bassi. The International Astronomical Union gave it this name in 1991. Laura Bassi died in 1778, at the age of 66, just two years after taking up her position as a professor. You are going to give a talk about Laura Bassi to your class at school. Prepare some notes to use as the basis for your talk. Make short notes under each heading. 10 What Laura Bassi was the first female to do: $$\(\bullet\)$$ . $$\(\bullet\)$$ . $$\(\bullet\)$$ . $$\(\bullet\)$$ 11 Things that have been named after Laura Bassi: $$\(\bullet\)$$ . $$\(\bullet\)$$ . $$\(\bullet\)$$ 8

Answer:

Award one mark for each acceptable response, up to a maximum of 4 marks Acceptable responses are:

What Laura Bassi was the first female to do
1 physics professor
2 member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences
3 doctorate in science / PhD in science
4 received offer of paid teaching / offered paid teaching position
5 set up private (physics) laboratory / set up laboratory in house / set up laboratory in own school
6 entire career in science / entire career in physics
Award one mark for each acceptable response, up to a maximum of three marks. Acceptable responses are:

Things that have been named after Laura Bassi
1 street / Via Laura Bassi Veratti
2 school
3 scholarship / sum of money for postgraduates
4 ship
5 crater (on Venus)

Knowledge points:

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