Elena Cornaro Piscopia

Elena Cornaro Piscopia was born in the Palazzo Loredan, in Venice, Republic of Venice, on 5 June 1646. She was the third child of Gianbattista Cornaro-Piscopia and his mistress Zanetta Boni. Her mother was a commoner and her parents were not married at the time of her birth. In 1664 Elena’s father was chosen to become the Procuratore di San Marco de supra, the treasurer of St Mark's Cathedral, a coveted position among Venetian nobility. That made Gianbattista second only to the Doge of Venice in terms of precedence. Because of this connection, Elena was prominent in the Marriage of the Sea celebration, even though she was born illegitimate. Her father tried to arrange betrothals for her several times but she rebuffed each man's advances. Early biographers' suggestion that she took a vow of chastity at age 11 is disputed by Francesco Ludovico Maschietto. In 1665 she took the habit of a Benedictine oblate without, however, becoming a nun. ==Education==

As a young girl Elena was seen as a prodigy. On the advice of Giovanni Fabris, a priest who was a friend of the family, she began a classical education. She studied Latin and Greek under distinguished instructors and became proficient in those languages, as well as French and Spanish, by the age of seven. Elena came to be an expert musician, mastering the harpsichord, the clavichord, the harp and the violin. Her skills were shown by the music that she composed in her lifetime. In her late teens and early twenties, she became interested in physics, astronomy and linguistics. Carlo Rinaldini, her tutor in philosophy and at that point, the Chairman of Philosophy at the University of Padua, published a book in 1668 written in Latin and centred on geometry. The book was dedicated to a twenty-two-year-old Elena. After the death of her main tutor, Fabris, she became even closer to Rinaldini, who took over her studies. ==Career==

In 1669 she translated the Colloquy of Christ by Carthusian monk Lanspergius from Spanish into Italian. The translation was dedicated to Gian Paolo Oliva, her close friend and confessor. The volume was issued in five editions in the Republic from 1669 to 1672. She was invited to be a part of many scholarly societies when her fame spread and in 1670 she became president of the Venetian society Accademia dei Pacifici. 's window depicting Cornaro's conferral. On the recommendation of Carlo Rinaldini, her tutor in philosophy, Felice Rotondi petitioned the University of Padua to grant Cornaro the laurea in theology. When Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo, the bishop of Padua, learned that she was pursuing a degree in theology, he refused on the grounds that she was a woman. thus becoming one of the first women to receive an academic degree from a university,. The last seven years of her life were devoted to study and charity. She died in Padua in 1684 of tuberculosis and was buried in the church of Santa Giustina. ==Legacy==

A few months after Elena's conferral, Charles Patin, lecturer in medicine at Padua, applied for his daughter Gabrielle-Charlotte Patin|Gabrielle-Charlotte [Carla Gabriella] Patin to begin a degree. The university, supported by Gianbattista Cornaro-Piscopia, changed its statutes to prohibit women from graduating. The next female doctorate was granted by the University of Bologna in 1732 to Laura Bassi. Cornaro's death was marked by memorial services in Venice, Padua, Siena and Rome. The published two memorial volumes of tributes by members: one to mark her degree, and the other her death. Padua's Accademia dei Ricovrati also produced a volume at her death. In 1895 Abbess Mathilda Pynsent of the English Benedictine Nuns in Rome had Cornaro's tomb opened, the remains placed in a new casket, and a suitable tablet inscribed to her memory. Her graduation ceremony is depicted in the Cornaro Window, installed in 1906 in the West Wing of the Thompson Memorial Library at Vassar College. At the suggestion of Ruth Crawford Mitchell, Cornaro is depicted in Giovanni Romagnoli's 1949 mural in the Italian Nationality Room at the University of Pittsburgh. Earlier biographies of Elena Cornaro include Massimiliano Dezza's Vita di Helena Lucretia Cornara Piscopia (Venice: Bosio, 1686) and Antonio Lupis' ''L'eroina veneta'' (Venice: Curti, 1689). Her collected works, with a biography, were published four years after her death by Benedetto Bacchini. In 2022, the Italian authorities refused to add her statue to the 78 statues of famous male scientists in Prato della Valle in Padua, arguing that a statue of the scientist already exists elsewhere on the university campus. In 2024, the Padua municipality organized a poll for a new female statue, which was won by Elena Cornaro Piscopia with 47.98% of the votes. The statue will be placed in a very central spot in the city. In 2026, the Municipality of Padua issued a call for tenders for the creation of the statue. The location is the historic centre of the city. The fee established for the creation of the work is €65,000. The Piscopia Initiative, named after Cornaro, was founded in Edinburgh in 2019 to tackle the participation crisis of women and non-binary people in mathematics research in the United Kingdom. The Piscopia Initiative encourages women and non-binary students to pursue a PhD in mathematics. As of 2023, it has local committees at 19 UK universities and 250 members ranking from undergraduates to Professors. ==Bibliography==