Angelo Guerraggio

Pietro Nastasi

This book describes Italian mathematics in the period between the two World Wars. It analyzes the development by focusing on both the interior and the external influences. Italian mathematics in that period was shaped by a colorful array of strong personalities who concentrated their efforts on a select number of fields and won international recognition and respect in an incredibly short time. Consequently, Italy was considered a third mathematical power after France and Germany.

Italian Mathematics Between the Two World Wars

Con la matematica abbiamo avuto tutti quanti a che fare, se non altro per averla studiata fin dai primi anni di scuola. Che la si sia amata o meno, con la matematica abbiamo tutti a che fare nella vita di tutti i giorni. Ma che cosŐ la matematica? Quanto teoria e quanto pratica, nel suo costruire modelli per spiegare la realt? Guerraggio ci conduce per mano alla scoperta del fascino di una disciplina che tuttŐaltro che un arido sistema di calcoli, intrecciata forse pi di ogni altra alla storia del pensiero e allo sviluppo di arti e mestieri. LŐautore parte dal presupposto che il matematico risolve problemi, suoi o di altri, tuttavia per venirne a capo, deve essere sufficientemente curioso e sensibile a diverse tematiche, le deve tradurre in uno dei ŇdialettiÓ che compongono la lingua matematica, deve saper inventare una nuova Matematica qualora quella conosciuta non sia sufficiente e ugualmente conoscere gli strumenti di calcolo ed essere in grado di ritradurre in termini reali quanto ottenuto.

Matematica

Giovanni Paoloni

​Vito Volterra (1860-1940) was one of the most famous representatives of Italian science in his day. Angelo Guerragio and Giovanni Paolini analyze Volterra’s most important contributions to mathematics and their applications, as well as his outstanding organizational achievements in scientific policy. Volterra was one of the founding fathers of functional analysis and the author of fundamental contributions in the field of integral equations, elasticity theory and population dynamics (Lotka-Volterra model). He delivered keynote lectures on the occasion of the International Congresses of Mathematicians held in Paris (1900), Rome (1908), Strasbourg (1920) and Bologna (1928). He became involved in the scientific development in united Italy and was appointed senator of the kingdom in 1905. One of his numerous non-mathematical activities was founding the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR). During the First World War he was active in military research. After the war he took a clear stand against fascism, which was the starting point for his exclusion. In 1926 he resigned as president of the world famous Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and was later on excluded from the academy. In 1931 he was one of the few university lecturers who denied to swear an oath of allegiance to the fascistic regime. In 1938 he suffered from the impact of the racial laws. The authors draw a comprehensive picture of Vito Volterra, both as a great mathematician and an organizer of science.

Angelo Guerraggio

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