The Volterra Chronicles: The Life and Times of an Extraordinary Mathematician 1860-1940 Reprint Edition
Author(s): Judith R. Goodstein (Author)
- Publisher: American Mathematical Society
- Publication Date: February 13, 2007
- Edition: Reprint
- Language: English
- Print length: 310 pages
- ISBN-10: 0821839691
- ISBN-13: 9780821839690
Book Description
The life of Vito Volterra, one of the finest scientists and mathematicians Italy ever produced, spans the period from the unification of the Italian peninsula in 1860 to the onset of the Second World War–an era of unparalleled progress and unprecedented turmoil in the history of Europe. Born into an Italian Jewish family in the year of the liberation of Italy’s Jewish ghettos, Volterra was barely in his twenties when he made his name as a mathematician and took his place as a leading light in Italy’s modern scientific renaissance. By his early forties, he was a world-renowned mathematician, a sought-after figure in European intellectual and social circles, the undisputed head of Italy’s mathematics and physics school–and still living with his mother, who decided the time was ripe to arrange his marriage. When Italy entered World War I in 1915, the fifty-five-year-old Volterra served with distinction and verve as a lieutenant and did not put on civilian clothes again until the Armistice of 1918. By 1925, he was president of the world’s oldest scientific society, the Accademia dei Lincei, the founder and president of Italy’s National Research Council, a mentor to the brilliant and restless Enrico Fermi, and “Mr. Italian Science” to the rest of the world. But none of this was enough to keep the government of Benito Mussolini from stripping him of all his honors and affiliations in 1931, when he was one of only twelve professors in the entire country to refuse to sign an oath of loyalty to the Fascist regime. This book, based in part on unpublished personal letters and interviews, traces the extraordinary life and times of one of Europe’s foremost scientists and mathematicians, from his teenage struggles to avoid the stifling life of a “respectable” bank clerk in Florence, to his seminal mathematical work–which today influences fields as diverse as economics, physics, and ecology–and from his spirited support of Italy’s scientific and democratic institutions during
Editorial Reviews
Review
“The Volterra Chronicles is different from these other works in that it is a dedicated biography of Volterra, based on original documents, which invites us into the mathematician’s intimate circle. … Author Judith Goodstein captures the human, political and social environment of the age.” —- Salvatore Coen, Nature
“This carefully documented biography by California Institute of Technology archivist Goodstein provides a vivid, very readable depiction of the whole of Volterra’s life… Overall, a fascinating, intimate portrait. Highly Recommended.” —- S.J. Colley, Choice
“(This book) is a delightful read for anyone interested in the history and culture of mathematics, no matter what their level of mathematical background. … With skill and clarity, the author weaves together the various cultural and historical strands in the life of Vito Volterra.” — –James N. Boyd, Mathematics Teacher
Goodstein gives a careful and detailed account…[the book] also offers an interesting portrait of family life. –Brian Hayes, American Scientist
“(This book) is a delightful read for anyone interested in the history and culture of mathematics, no matter what their level of mathematical background. … With skill and clarity, the author weaves together the various cultural and historical strands in the life of Vito Volterra.” —- James N. Boyd, Mathematics Teacher
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