Laura Bassi died in Bologna, ending a pioneering career as Europe's first female physics professor.
Laura Bassi died on 20 February 1778 in Bologna, at the age of 66, following a career that had spanned nearly half a century as one of Europe's foremost scientific figures and its first female physics professor. She remained active in teaching and research until close to the end of her life, having only two years earlier been appointed to the prestigious Chair of Experimental Physics at the Istituto delle Scienze.
Her death was mourned widely in Bologna and among the scientific community across Europe with whom she had corresponded, including figures such as Voltaire, who admired her work and corresponded with her over many years. Bassi's passing marked the end of an era in which a single woman had almost single-handedly demonstrated that women could excel at the highest levels of scientific scholarship, teaching, and institutional leadership.
Her legacy endured through her students — she trained many of the next generation of Italian scientists — and through the broader precedent she set. Institutions and later generations of women scientists across Europe would point to Bassi's career as proof that women could hold professorships, conduct original research, and lead academic institutions.
Today, Bassi is commemorated in numerous ways: a crater on Venus (Bassi) is named in her honor, as are streets, scholarships, and academic prizes in Italy. The University of Bologna continues to honor her as one of its most celebrated alumnae and faculty members, and she is widely regarded as one of the pioneering women of the scientific Enlightenment.