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Friday, November 13, 2009 |
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Roma
Teatro Studio - Auditorium Parco della Musica
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Begins at 11:00 |
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For information:
FONDAZIONE SIGMA-TAU
Viale Shakespeare, 47
00144 Roma
Tel. 06-59.26.443-4-5 06-59.26.600
Fax: 06-59.26.441 |
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"S & E: School and Excellence" |
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UMBERTO BOTTAZZINI, "ENTRE-DEUX-GUERRES MATHEMATICIANS IN ROME: ITALY'S LESSON" |
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On Novembre 13, at 11 a.m., there will take place the second meeting in the series "S & E - SCHOOL and EXCELLENCE: Schools of Science in XX-century Italy" (a project by Fondazione Sigma-Tau, in co-production with Fondazione Musica per Roma) in the Teatro Studio of the Auditorium Parco della Musica. The series specifically addresses Rome high schools to have students know about traditions of scientific research shedding lustre on Italy.
This time Umberto Bottazzini, historian of Mathematics, will tell about the exploits of the Rome school of mathematics between First and Second World War, from Guido Castelnuovo, Federigo Enriques, Tullio Levi-Civita down to Bruno De Finetti. A discussion ensues, coordinated by Pino Donghi, General Secretary of the Fondazione Sigma-Tau, together with Claudio Procesi, allegedly one of the top world experts in Algebra, and with Giulio Giorello, philosopher of science.
"About one hundred years ago -- so Bottazzini -- in August 1908 the International Mathematicians Congress is held in Rome: it is the hallmark of the excellence attained by Italian scholars after congresses in Paris and Heidelberg. Guido Castelnuovo, Federigo Enriques and the younger Francesco Severi are known the world over in the field of algebraic geometry, as are Vito Volterra regarding analysis and Tullio Levi-Civita regarding tensor calculus and mathematical physics. After First World War these scholars (although with different scientific and politic attitudes) build up an extraordinary team, making Rome an internationally acclaimed centre on a par with Goettingen. In the 1920s-1930s such centre attracts italian and foreigner mathematicians. For instance, Oscar Zariski and André Weil come to study in Rome, before becoming XX century leading scholars. A young Dirk Struik follows Levi-Civita's teachings, before moving to Goettingen, then to MIT. In the same years Castelnuovo suggested a specifically Theoretical physics chair for Enrico Fermi and also supported Bruno de Finetti, even if they had opposite views on probability. However, that exceptional season for maths in Rome is closed down through the 1938 racial laws and the Second World War".
The series "S & E - SCHOOL and EXCELLENCE: Schools of Science in XX-century Italy" has started on October 27 and will also take place on 30 November and 14 December. The meetings aim at being an occasion to think over chances and limits of scientific research and scientific culture in Italy. But also to consider which conditions have fostered outstanding results, as well as which reasons have kept from setting up a sound and efficient system of scientific production. |
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October 27: ENRICO BELLONE, "ENRICO FERMI, PHYSICS AND THE VIA PANISPERNA BOYS"
November 30: CHAIN, BOVET, MONTALCINI AND THE ISS SCHOOL
December 14: GILBERTO CORBELLINI, "THE ERADICATION OF MALARIA: THE ITALIAN EXAMPLE" |
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Fondazione
Sigma-Tau - All rights reserved.