Faustina Pignatelli

Faustina Pignatelli Carafa, princess di Colubrano (1705-1785; died in Naples), was an Italian scientist. She was the second woman elected to the Academy of Sciences of Bologna (1732). She published the Problemata Mathematica in 1734.

Upon her marriage to the poet Francesco Domenico Carafa in 1724, she was given the principality Colubrano as a dowry by her father. Alongside her brother Peter, she was educated by Nicola De Martino, and was instrumental in introducing the theories of Isaac Newton to Naples. She was an important participator in the scientific debate in Italy and corresponded with the French Academy of Sciences. Francesco Maria Zanotti mentioned her as a gifted mathematician in the Academy of Sciences in Bologna in 1745.

References

• Pignatelli, Carafa Faustina, principessa di Colubrano
• A. Brigaglia, P. Nastasi, Bologna e il Regno delle due Sicilie: aspetti di un dialogo scientifico (1730-1760), «Giornale critico della filosofia italiana», LXIII, 2, 1984, pp. 145–178.