BREAKING BARRIERS
They said, “No!” She asked, “Why?” The answer was always the same: “Because you’re a woman.” She vowed to shatter each barrier they placed in her way.
Inquisitive and precocious, Laura Bassi grew up on the Italian Peninsula in the 1700s, dreaming of studying science at the famed University of Bologna. It was the Age of Enlightenment and although forward-thinking philosophical ideas and scientific discoveries flourished, the prevailing edict was that college was no place for a woman—no matter how capable, intelligent, or innovative.
Renouncing the societal norms of the day, Laura never stopped working towards a time when a woman would have the same opportunities as a man, be held to equivalent standards, and realize equal rewards. But first, she had to master Newtonian physics.
Dreams of Discovery
A determined man with a dream whose mentors and friendships supported him through his difficult life’s journey.
John Cabot was born Giovanni Caboto in Genoa, Italy. As a child, he dreamed of captaining a ship across a mysterious, uncharted ocean, from Europe to the riches of China. There was another boy in Genoa at the same time, with the same dream: Christopher Columbus.
The Turks, in the fifteenth century, had a stranglehold on the trade routes to the Far East. Europe’s race to find an alternative passage was heating up. But an explorer needed patrons, funds, ships—and a vision. Whereas Columbus had taken a south and west route from Spain, Cabot was convinced a more northern route from England would lead directly to China.