Helena Perpenti

Maria Medina Coeli (1764 in Chiavenna – 1846 in Pianello Lario) was an Italian scientist.

She was the daughter of the physician Sebastian Medina Coeli and Isabella Battistessa. Coeli was educated in medicine by her father and corresponded with the physician Luigi Sacco. She developed a vaccine against smallpox and tested it on herself and her family, and the introduction of vaccination in the Como area is attributed to her efforts. She also studied natural science. She moved to Como to study, but instead married the clerk Bernardino Lena Perpenti in 1788. The many children of her marriage prevented her studies, but she continued on a smaller scale, and invented a method to treat asbestos, which made her famous.