Elena Cornaro Piscopia
Elena Cornaro Piscopia (1646–1684) was a Venetian noblewoman and philosopher, the daughter of Gianbattista Cornaro-Piscopia, Procurator of St Mark. A Benedictine oblate from 1665, she became president of Venice's Accademia dei Pacifici in 1670.
Cardinal Barbarigo refused her a theology degree but allowed her to study philosophy, and on 25 June 1678, in Padua Cathedral, she was proclaimed a doctor of philosophy after disputing Aristotle in Latin, the first woman to earn a doctorate in philosophy. She died of tuberculosis in Padua in 1684.