Today is Elena Cornaro Piscopia’s 373rd birthday of Italian philosopher, theologian with on June 5, 2019.

Google celebrates Elena Cornaro Piscopia’s 373rd Birthday with a doodle. Elena Cornaro Piscopia was a Venetian philosopher, who was one of the first women to receive an academic degree from a university and in 1678 she became the first woman in the world to receive a Ph.D. degree.

After she enrolled in university, she applied for a Doctorate of Theology, but was rejected as church officials would refuse to give the title to a woman. After much struggle and a little support from her father, Elena Cornaro Piscopia applied for a Doctorate of Philosophy.

Google’s Doodle’s illustration depicts her thus: A wreath of laurel was placed on her head, with a gold ring on her finger, a book of philosophy in her hand and an ermine cape on her shoulders. She had learned several languages, subjects and the use of many musical instruments.

When Elena was just seven years old, her parents recognised her potential. Her parents were encouraged by a family friend to give her lessons in Greek and Latin. Apart from these languages, Elena Cornaro Piscopia also learned the languages of Hebrew, Spanish, French and Arabic.

She also studied the use of several musical instruments like the harpsichord, clavichord, harp and violin. Apart from these, she studied mathematics and astronomy as well. But, her interests lay in theology and philosophy.\

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