This document recounts the conferring of a degree in philosophy on the Venetian noblewoman Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia by the University of Padua on June 25, 1678. The conferring of a doctoral degree on a woman was unprecedented, and the occasion was marked by a particularly high degree of ceremony, attended by eminent officials of the university and city and witnessed by a large crowd. As was normal, the conferring of the degree was dependent on a satisfactory performance in discussing two randomly chosen passages from Aristotle. (Piscopia’s discussion, which by some accounts took over an hour, would have been in Latin, the standard language for university proceedings.) The normal process by which a student was awarded a degree involved voting, but the Vice Prior suggested that given the excellence of Piscopia’s presentation, she be awarded the degree by acclamation. Despite Piscopia’s stated preference for a secret ballot, she was awarded the degrees of Master and Doctor of Philosophy by unanimous acclamation. The person who conferred the degree on her was her sponsor, Carlo Rinaldini, the possessor of a chair at Padua as well as an appointment as mathematician to the Duke of Tuscany, a job previously held by Galileo Galilei. Rinaldini then gave an oration praising Piscopia and handed her objects symbolic of her new status, including books, a ring, and an ermine cape.