Person: Casamayor, María Andresa
María Andresa Casamayor was the first Spanish woman to publish a science book. In March 1738, when only 17 years old, she published the arithmetic text Tyrocinio arithmético designed to facilitate the learning of basic arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- St Andrew in Spanish is San Andrés, the female version being Andrea or Andresa.
- She was baptised the day after her birth at the Basilica of Our Lady of Pilar and she was given the names María Juana Rosa Andresa.
- Being part of the French community would have an influence on the way María Andresa was brought up since their customs and way of thinking was a little different from the Spanish people.
- We know, however, from the skills that María Andresa had acquired by the age of 17, that she must have been taught writing and arithmetical skills to a high standard.
- María Andresa certainly acquired these skills and, throughout her life, strongly believed the importance of all girls and boys acquiring them.
- Since María Andresa became a teacher, we should briefly look at how education was organised in Zaragoza in the first half of the 18th century.
- In 1738 María Andresa published Tyrocinio: arithmético, instrucción de las quatro reglas llanas Ⓣ(Tyrocinio: arithmetic, instruction of the four plain rules.).
- One might ask how María Andresa can be a disciple of the Escuela Pía when their school only educated boys?
- Those good at anagrams will see that in fact Casandro Mamés de La Marca y Araioa is simply an anagram of María Andresa Casamayor de La Coma.
- He clearly knew the book was by María Andresa and he must have been one of those who encouraged her.
- Up to this point María Andresa Casamayor had been highly successful and looked to have a good future ahead of her supported by several influential men.
- He was someone who was very concerned about the education of women and he too was a supporter of Casamayor but he died on 3 March 1742.
- The professor of Mathematics at the Colegio de Santo Tomás de Aquino de las Escuelas Pías de Zaragoza, Juan Francisco de Jesús, was the only one left to help Casamayor but soon he left Zaragoza and went to the College of the Piarists of Valencia.
- Casamayor did not marry or become a nun, the routes thought almost essential for a woman at this time.
- It tells us that, in 1766, Casamayor was living on her own in a house on the corner of what today is called Calle Viola.
- In the 1766 census it was owned by Joseph Lasala, a royal scribe, and the entry states that living there is "Andresa Casamayor, not paying." The Municipal Historical Archive of Zaragoza also contains a document listing the licences issued to teachers of girls which also gives the place where they taught.
- This is where Casamayor taught.
- Casamayor wrote a second arithmetic text, El Para Sí Solo Ⓣ(For Himself Alone), which was never published, remained a manuscript work but was eventually lost.
- As with her first book, Casamayor did not give her name as the author of this text, giving Casandro Mamés de la Marca y Araioa.
- Having recounted the known facts about Casamayor, there remains the question that a quick look at the references will produce, namely that only in the last couple of years does anything seem to have been written about her.
- In an article, she found four facts about Casamayor, enough to understand that "she deserved a documentary, researching her and making her known.
- That is why the most desired moment was to find Casamayor's baptism certificate.
- But in that document there was something else: the discovery of her real name, María Andresa.
- Bernués returned to the anagram of 'Tyrocinio' and recomposed it, verifying that the letters of her name, shuffled to compose Casandro Mamés de la Marca and Arioa, only fit with Andresa.
- The baptism note found in the Historical Archive of Pilar confirms that she was born in Zaragoza on the day of Saint Andrew, 30 November, from whom she would take the name, and was baptised the following day, 1 December 1720, as María Juana Rosa Andresa Casamayor de La Coma.
- A street in Zaragoza was named Grupo Andrea Casamayor by the Zaragoza City Council in the Las Fuentes area of the city.
- A street in the city of Gijón has also been named for her, Calle María Andrea Casamayor, appropriately around the Scientific Technology Centre.
- There is also a Colegio Andrea Casamayor near Madrid.
- It may have taken 300 years, but at last María Andresa Casamayor's achievements have been recognised.
Born 30 November 1720, Zaragoza, Spain. Died 23 October 1780, Zaragoza, Spain.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Spain, Women
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
-
- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
