Laura Bassi and Giuseppe Veratti: an electric couple during the Enlightenment

Abstract

From the first half of the 18th century onwards, tremendous curiosity about electrical phenomena spread throughout Europe. Machines producing electrostatic electricity were scattered over Italy, and lectures on electricity attracted members of academia as well as the ruling elite. The Institute of Science of Bologna was one of the first scientific academies to lend legitimacy to studies focused on the nature of electric fluid, uniting them into a field of scientific research. Among the Bolognese specialists in the study of electricity, the physician Giuseppe Veratti and his wife, Laura Bassi, professor of philosophy at the university, stand out. As a couple and independently, they carried out experimental research in the field of electricity, even setting up research facilities within their own home, and were active participants in theoretical debates on the nature of electricity and its effects. These activities led to correspondence and collaborations with distinguished experts, such as Jean-Antoine (Abbé) Nollet, Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Felice Fontana, and Alessandro Volta. This text describes the couples scientific activities, which in the 18th century represents an exceptional case of collaboration between husband and wife.