Maria Medina Coeli (1764 in Chiavenna – 1846 in Pianello Lario) (also known as Helena Perpenti) was an Italian physician, inventor and botanist.
"[1] The many children of her marriage prevented intense studies, but she continued on a smaller scale and invented a way to spin asbestos, which brought her "considerable fame in Italy and abroad.
After news of her work reached the Society of Encouragement for National Industry in Paris, it is said it "attracted the attention and admiration of Napoleon.
"[1] Using the Linnean classification system, Coeli (then widely known as Helena Perpenti)[3] studied the flora of the Lario valleys near Lake Como.
After her discovery of this rare species of flower was published, she earned a place, as a distinguished naturalist, in the French Dictionary of Inventions.