Obtaining a position as a professor at an esteemed university is, by modern standards, an impressive accomplishment in its own right. But imagine being awarded such a position in eighteenth-century Italy, at height of the Age of Enlightenment, when, as historian of science Paula Findlen describes, the industry of science was booming and scholars were clamoring for status and recognition. Imagine achieving this as a woman.

Laura Maria Caterina Bassi did exactly this in December 1732, when the University of Bologna officially appointed her as a professor of natural philosophy, overlooking her biological sex in favor of her incredible talents as an academic.