Maria Gaetana Agnesi (16 May 1718 - 9 January 1799) was an Italian mathematician, philosopher, theologian, and humanitarian. She was the first woman to write a mathematics handbook and the first woman appointed as a mathematics professor at a university. The most valuable result of her labours was the Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventu italiana, (Analytical Institutions for the Use of Italian Youth) which was published in Milan in 1748. The goal of this work was, according to Agnesi herself, to give a systematic illustration of the different results and theorems of infinitesimal calculus.