Non solo tricoter: donne e scienza

Between the XVIII and XIX centuries, in Como, Teresa Ciceri and Candida Medina Coeli distinguished themselves obtaining remarkable results in the agronomic, chemical, and botanical fields. Alessandro Volta played an important role in their lives: the first was ‘friend and adviser’ of the physicist, and was the first in Lombardy to introduce the cultivation of potatoes, and managed to obtain a tissue from the stem of lupins; the latter developed a technique for weaving asbestos. The two women scientists, who lived in an age when female emancipation was not well regarded, could probably carry on their research because they were considered a demonstration of female ingenuity applied to domestic activities.