Leonida Tonelli: A Biography

This paper aims at going through the work by Leonida Tonelli, with a focus on the results he got in the fields of Real Analysis and Calculus of Variations, and put it within the socio-political context of his time. One of the most outstanding Italian analysts in the first half of twentieth century, first in Bologna and then in Pisa and Rome, Leonida Tonelli’s path combined elements of different, conflictual in some moment, relationships which featured at that time Italian mathematics and which linked the latter with Giovanni Gentile, the Fascism and the after-war “new”Italy.

Un Nobel per Poincaré?

Toward a scientific and personal biography of Tullio Levi-Civita (1873–1941)

International audience; Tullio Levi-Civita was one of the most important Italian mathematicians in the early part of the 20th century, contributing significantly to a number of research fields in mathematics and physics. In addition, he was involved in the social and political life of his time and suffered severe political and racial persecution during the period of Fascism. He tried repeatedly and in several cases successfully to help colleagues and students who were victims of anti-Semitism in Italy and Germany. His scientific and private life is well documented in the letters and documents contained in his Archive. The authors' aim is to illustrate the events of his life by means of his …

Pietro Mengoli and the six-square problem

The aim of this paper is to analyze a little known aspect of Pietro Mengoli's (1625-1686) mathematical activity: the difficulties he faced in trying to solve some problems in Diophantine analysis suggested by J. Ozanam. Mengoli's recently published correspondence reveals how he cherished his prestige as a scholar. At the same time, however, it also shows that his insufficient familiarity with algebraic methods prevented him, as well as other Italian mathematicians of his time, from solving the so-called “French” problems. Quite different was the approach used for the same problems by Leibniz, who, although likewise partially unsuccessful, demonstrated a deeper mathematical insight which led…

Un matematico alla Grande Guerra: Mauro Picone

Italian Mathematics Between the Two World Wars

Mario Salvadori and Mauro Picone: From Student and Teacher to Professional Fellowship

The correspondence between Mario Salvadori and Mauro Picone during the years 1934–1972 sheds light on the history of the Italian Institute for the Applications of Calculation. The IAC was a groundbreaking institution for mathematics in Italy, and great attention was given to the new means of mechanical calculation, first analogue, then electronic. It was in relationship to this that Mario Salvadori consulted with his former professor. The correspondence allows us to see also how that relationship changed from one of student-teacher to one of fellowship between professional