She dared to know. She dared to dream. But for her they raised the bar—and kept raising it—hoping she would give up. Precocious, and with an insatiable appetite for scientific knowledge, Laura Bassi grew up dreaming of attending the Papal states’ famed University of Bologna. It was the Age of Enlightenment but the prevailing thought was that the ivory towers of academia were no place for a woman, no matter how eager, intelligent, or inventive. While college administrators continually raised the bar for her acceptance—smugly assuring themselves of Laura’s failure—the determined visionary strove to surpass each obstacle they placed in her way. Renouncing the societal norms of the day, she dreamt of 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.