Google Doodle celebrates birthday of first woman Ph.D holder - Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia

New Delhi : Google Doodle on Wednesday celebrated 373rd birthday of first woman in the world to hold a Ph.D degree - Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia. Born on June 5, 1646, in the Palazzo Loredan, at Venice, Republic of Venice, she is also known as Helen Cornaro. 

Helen was one of the first women to receive an academic degree from a university.

She was considered an illegitimate child of Gianbattista Cornaro-Piscopia and therefore, wasn’t allowed to enjoy the privileges of being the child of a noble parent.

Lady Elena, as she was later called, vowed of chastity at the age of eleven. Therefore, she refused everything that men offered in lieu of getting married to her.

She had shown brilliance right from her early age. It is believed that by the time she turned 7-year-old, she had mastered six languages – Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic. She was given the title of Oraculum Septilingue for her achievement. 

Later she studied mathematics, philosophy, and theology.

She was refused to be granted the laurea (post-secondary academic degree in Italy) in theology by the bishop of Padua on the grounds of being a woman. However, she received the laurea in Philosophy later when she got a degree by performing prolifically during the course of study.

Most of her life went into studying and doing charity. She took his last breath in the year 1684 at Padua due to tuberculosis. A statue of her has been placed in the University of Padua.