Francesco Severi
Francesco Severi was an Italian mathematician.
Severi was born in Arezzo, Italy. He is famous for his contributions to algebraic geometry and the theory of functions of several complex variables. He became the effective leader of the Italian school of algebraic geometry. Together with Federigo Enriques, he won the Bordin prize from the French Academy of Sciences.
He contributed in a major way to birational geometry, the theory of algebraic surfaces, in particular of the curves lying on them, the theory of moduli spaces and the theory of functions of several complex variables. He wrote prolifically, and some of his work has subsequently been shown to be not rigorous according to the then new standards set in particular by Oscar Zariski and David Mumford. Although many of his arguments have since been made rigorous, a significant fraction were not only lacking in rigor but also wrong. At the personal level, according to he was easily offended, and he was involved in a number of controversies. Most notably, he was a staunch supporter of the Italian fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and was included on a committee of academics that was to conduct an anti-semitic purge of all scholarly societies and academic institutions. He died in Rome of cancer.
Selected publications
All the mathematical works of Francesco Severi, except all books, are collected in the six volumes of his "Opere Matematiche".- , available at Gallica. The paper containing the first proof of Morera's theorem for holomorphic functions of several variables.
- . The announce of the solution of the Dirichlet problem for pluriharmonic functions for domains with real analytic boundaries.
- . In this paper Severi describes the "passage from real to complex" method he developed in order to deal with several problems in the theory of functions of several complex variables.
- . In this work Severi gives his proof of the Hartogs' extension theorem.
- . Notes from a course held by Francesco Severi at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica, containing appendices of Enzo Martinelli, Giovanni Battista Rizza and Mario Benedicty.
- . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume I collects works published from 1900 to 1908.
- . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume II collects works published from 1909 to 1917.
- . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume III collects works published from 1918 to 1932.
- . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume IV collects works published from 1933 to 1941.
- . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume V collects works published from 1942 to 1948.
- . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume VI collects works published from 1949 to 1961.
Articles on ''Scientia''
- ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 8, 1910, pp. 1–29
- ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 37, 1925, pp. 77–86
- ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 37, 1925, pp. 1–10
- ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 81, 1947, pp. 49–59
- ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 88, 1953, pp. 41–44
- ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 90, 1955, pp. 277–282
- , Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 92, 1957, pp. 20–26
Reviews
- Albert Einstein, ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 91, 1956, pp. 42–43
- Eric Temple Bell, ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 90, 1955, pp. 371–372
- Nikolaus Von Cues, ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 89, 1954, pp. 34–34
- Ludovico Geymonat, ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 89, 1954, pp. 176–176
- Norbert Wiener, ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 88, 1953, pp. 312–313
- Eric Temple Bell, ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 86, 1951, pp. 183–184
- Richard Courant e Herbert Robbins, ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 86, 1951, pp. 278–279
- Gottlob Frege, ', Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 84, 1949, pp. 144–144
Biographical and general references
- . The "Yearbook" of the renowned Italian scientific institution, including an historical sketch of its history, the list of all past and present members as well as a wealth of information about its academic and scientific activities.
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- , available at Gallica. A detailed description of the Bordin prize winning work of Francesco Severi and Federigo Enriques.
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- . A report of the fourth International Congress of Mathematicians with a short exposition of the motivation for the awarding of the Guccia medal to Severi.
- . The relation by Max Noether, Henri Poincaré and Corrado Segre on the motivation for the awarding of the Guccia medal to Severi, read during the fourth International Congress of Mathematicians.
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- . A description of the scientific work done under the direction of Severi at the "''Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica during the early forties of the twentieth century, by one of his former doctoral students.
Scientific references
- . The "Proceedings of the mathematical conference for the celebration of the centenary of the birth of Guido Fubini and Francesco Severi", including several research as well as historical papers describing the contributions of Guido Fubini and Fracesco Severi to various branches of pure and applied mathematics: the conference was held on 8–10 October 1979 at the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino.
- . In the paper "The contributions of Guido Fubini and Francesco Severi to the theory of functions of several complex variables", Gaetano Fichera describes the main contributions of the two scientists to the Cauchy and the Dirichlet problem for holomorphic functions of several complex variables, as well as the impact of their work on subsequent researches.
- . "The Severi and Severi–Kneser theorems for analytic functions of several complex variables and their further developments" is an historical survey paper on the Cauchy and the Dirichlet problem for holomorphic functions of several complex variables, updating the earlier work.
- . This paper, included in the Proceedings of the Study Meeting in Memory of Giuseppe Gemignani, is an account of the failures of Vito Volterra, Leonida Tonelli and Francesco Severi, when dealing with particular research problems during their career. An English translation of the title reads as:-"Three battles lost by three great Italian mathematicians".
- . In the paper "''The thought of Einstein in the work of Guido Fubini and Francesco Severi", Dionigi Galletto describes the main contributions of the two scientists to special and general relativity.
- . In this paper, R. Michael Range corrects some inexact historical statements in the theory of holomorphic functions of several variables, particularly concerning contributions of Gaetano Fichera and Francesco Severi.
- . An historical paper exploring further the same topic previously dealt in the paper by the same author.