1792 ca, BOLOGNA, ITALY: Portrait of italian woman physicist, philosopher and mathematician LAURA Maria Caterina BASSI (1771-1778). Engraving by A. Di Lorenzo, XIX century. Bassi was appointed Professor of Physics at Bologna University aged 21 and was the first women to hold the post. She was a woman of powerful intellect, expert in many fields. She wrote 28 scientific papers, on chemistry, physics, hydraulics, mathematics, mechanics and technology