Faustina Pignatelli Carafa, princess di Colubrano (died in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 1785), was an Italian scientist. She was the second woman elected in to the Academy of Sciences in Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

 (1732). She published the Problemata Mathematica in 1734.

Upon her marriage to the poet Francesco Domenico Carafa in 1724, she was given the principality Colubrano as a dowry by her father. Alongside her brother Peter, she was educated by Nicola De Martino, and was instrumental in introducing the theories of Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...

 to Naples. She was an important participator in the scientific debate in Italy and corresponded with the French Academy of Sciences.
Francesco Maria Zanotti mentioned her as a gifted mathematician in the Academy of Sciences in Bologna in 1745.