Francesco Severi

Francesco Severi
Born	13 April 1879 Arezzo
Died	8 December 1961 (aged 82) Rome
Nationality	Italian
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	Università di Torino, Università di Bologna, Università di Padova, Università di Roma, Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica (now Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica Francesco Severi)
Alma mater	Università di Torino, 1900
Doctoral advisor	Corrado Segre
Other academic advisors	Enrico d'Ovidio, Federigo Enriques, Eugenio Bertini
Doctoral students	Aldo Andreotti, Enzo Martinelli, Guido Zappa
Other notable students	Luigi Fantappiè, Gaetano Fichera
Known for	Algebraic geometry, several complex variables
Influenced	Algebraic geometry, several complex variables
Notable awards	Gold medal of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL (1906) Prix Bordin (1907) (jointly with Federigo Enriques) Guccia Medal (1908) "Premio reale" of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (1913)

Francesco Severi (photo by Konrad Jacobs)

Francesco Severi (13 April 1879 – 8 December 1961) 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. At the personal level, according to Roth (1963) he was easily offended, and he was involved in a number of controversies. 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".

• Severi, Francesco (2 March 1931), "Sur une propriété fondamentale des fonctions analytiques de plusieurs variables", Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences (in French), 192: 596–599, Zbl 0001.14802, available at Gallica. The paper containing the first proof of Morera's theorem for holomorphic functions of several variables.
• Severi, Francesco (1931a), "Risoluzione del problema generale di Dirichlet per le funzioni biarmoniche" [Solution of the general Dirichlet problem for biharmonic functions], Rendiconti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali, series 6, (in Italian), 13: 795–804, JFM 57.0393.01, Zbl 0002.34202. The announce of the solution of the Dirichlet problem for pluriharmonic functions for domains with real analytic boundaries.
• Severi, Francesco (1932), "Una proprietà fondamentale dei campi di olomorfismo di una funzione analitica di una variabile reale e di una variabile complessa" [A fundamental property of the domain of holomorphy of an analytic function of one real variable and one complex variable], Rendiconti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali, series 6, (in Italian), 15: 487–490, JFM 58.0352.05, Zbl 0004.40702. 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.
• Severi, Francesco (1942–1943), "A proposito d'un teorema di Hartogs" [About a theorem of Hartogs], Commentarii Mathematici Helvetici (in Italian), 15 (1): 350–352, MR 0010730, Zbl 0028.15301. In this work Severi gives his proof of the Hartogs' extension theorem.
• Severi, Francesco (1958), Lezioni sulle funzioni analitiche di più variabili complesse – Tenute nel 1956–57 all'Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica in Roma [Lectures on analytic functions of several complex variables – Lectured in 1956–57 at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica in Rome] (in Italian), Padova: CEDAM – Casa Editrice Dott. Antonio Milani, pp. XIV+255, Zbl 0094.28002. Notes from a course held by Francesco Severi at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica (which at present bears his name), containing appendices of Enzo Martinelli, Giovanni Battista Rizza and Mario Benedicty.
• Severi, Francesco (1971), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. I (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), pp. XLII+491, MR 0701703, Zbl 0582.01027 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). 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.
• Severi, Francesco (1974), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. II (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 567, MR 0701702, Zbl 0582.01027 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). 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.
• Severi, Francesco (1977), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. III (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 603, MR 0701700, Zbl 0582.01027 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). 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.
• Severi, Francesco (1980), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. IV (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 603, MR 0701701, Zbl 0582.01027 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). 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.
• Severi, Francesco (1988), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. V (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 553, MR 1030994 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). 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.
• Severi, Francesco (1989), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. VI (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 499, MR 1030995 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). 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

• (Italian) Ipotesi e realta nelle scienze geometriche, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 8, 1910, pp. 1–29
• (Italian) Esame delle obiezioni d'ordine generale contro la relatività del tempo, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 37, 1925, pp. 77–86
• (Italian) Elementi logici e psicologici dei principi di relatività, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 37, 1925, pp. 1–10
• (Italian) Materia e causalità, energia e indeterminazione, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 81, 1947, pp. 49–59
• (Italian) Leonardo e la matematica, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 88, 1953, pp. 41–44
• (Italian) I fondamenti logici della relatività, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 90, 1955, pp. 277–282
• (Italian) La matematica nella prima metà del secolo XX, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 92, 1957, pp. 20–26

Reviews

• (French) Albert Einstein, L'ether et la theorie de la relativité, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 91, 1956, pp. 42–43
• (French) Eric Temple Bell, Les mathematiques reines et servantes des sciences, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 90, 1955, pp. 371–372
• (French) Nikolaus Von Cues, Die Mathematische Schriften, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 89, 1954, pp. 34–34
• (French) Ludovico Geymonat, Saggi di Filosofia neorazionalista, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 89, 1954, pp. 176–176
• (French) Norbert Wiener, Introduzione alla cibernetica, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 88, 1953, pp. 312–313
• (Italian) Eric Temple Bell, I grandi Matematici, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 86, 1951, pp. 183–184
• (Italian) Richard Courant e Herbert Robbins, Che cos'è la matematica?, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 86, 1951, pp. 278–279
• (French) Gottlob Frege, Aritmetica e Logica, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 84, 1949, pp. 144–144

See also

• Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica Francesco Severi
• Italian school of algebraic geometry
• Morera's theorem
• Néron–Severi group
• Pluriharmonic function
• Several complex variables
• Severi–Brauer variety

References

Biographical and general references

• Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (2012), Annuario dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 2012 – CDX dalla Sua Fondazione (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, p. 734. 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 informations about its academic and scientific activities.
• Barlotti, Adriano (1992), "Ricordo di Francesco Severi", Atti e memorie della Accademia Petrarca di lettere arti e scienze, nuova serie, (in Italian), LIV: 343–346.
• Bompiani, Enrico (1962), "Necrologio di Francesco Severi", Bollettino della Unione Matematica Italiana, Serie 3, (in Italian), 17 (2): 243–246, Zbl 0100.24722.
• Frajese, Attilio (1958–1964), "Commemorazione di Francesco Severi", Atti e memorie della Accademia Petrarca di lettere arti e scienze, nuova serie, (in Italian), XXXVIII: 333–341.
• Garnier, René (29 January 1962), "Notice nécrologique sur Francesco Severi", Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences (in French), 254: 777–782, Zbl 0115.24608.
• Jordan, C.; Poincaré, H.; Picard, E.; Appell, P. É.; Painlevé, P.; Levy, M.; Darboux, J. G.; Boussinesq, J. V.; Humbert, M. G. (2 December 1907), "Prix Bordin", Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences (in French), 145: 981–983, available at Gallica. A detailed description of the Bordin prize winning work of Francesco Severi and Federigo Enriques.
• Julia, G. (4 October 1962), "La vie et l'oeuvre de Francesco Severi" (PDF), Pontificia Academia Scientiarum Commentarii (in French), 1 (16): 1–12.
• Maracchia, Silvio (1979–1980), "Ricordo di Francesco Severi in occasione del I Centenario della nascita", Atti e memorie della Accademia Petrarca di lettere arti e scienze, nuova serie, (in Italian), XLIII: 53–63.
• Moore, Clarence Lemuel Elisha (1908), "The fourth International Congress of Mathematicians", Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 14 (10): 481–498, doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1908-01656-2. 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.
• Noether, M.; Poincaré, H.; Segre, C. (1909), "Relazione del concorso internazionale per la «Medaglia Guccia»" (PDF), in Castelnuovo, G., Atti del IV Congresso Internazionale dei Matematici (Roma 6–11 Aprile 1908), Proceedings of the ICMS (in Italian), Vol. I, Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, pp. 209–216, JFM 40.0046.05. 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.
• Occhini, Pier Ludovico (1930), "Per Franceso Severi Accademico d'Italia", Atti e memorie della Accademia Petrarca di lettere arti e scienze, nuova serie, (in Italian), IX: 175–183.
• Roth, L. (1963), "Francesco Severi", Journal of the London Mathematical Society, Second Series, 38: 282–307, doi:10.1112/jlms/s1-38.1.282, ISSN 0024-6107, MR 0157887, Zbl 0112.00314.
• Salmi, Mario (1949–1951), "In onore di Francesco Severi", Atti e memorie della Accademia Petrarca di lettere arti e scienze, nuova serie, (in Italian), XXXV: VI–VIII.
• Zappa, Guido (1984), "La scuola matematica di Francesco Severi intorno al 1940" [The mathematical school of Francesco Severi around 1940] (PDF), Rivista di Matematica della Università di Parma, (4) (in Italian), 10^*: 11–14, MR 0777309, Zbl 0562.01015. 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

• Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, ed. (1982), "Atti del convegno matematico in celebrazione del centenario nascita di Guido Fubini e Francesco Severi. Torino, 8–10 Ottobre 1979", Atti dell'Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. I. Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali, Torino: Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, 115 (Supplemento): 243. 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.
• Fichera, Gaetano (1982), "I contributi di Guido Fubini e di Francesco Severi alla teoria delle funzioni di più variabili complesse", Atti del convegno matematico in celebrazione del centenario nascita di Guido Fubini e Francesco Severi. Torino, 8–10 Ottobre 1979, Atti dell'Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. I. Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali, 115 (Supplemento), Torino: Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, pp. 23–44, MR 0727484, Zbl 0531.32001. In the paper "The contributions of Guido Fubini and Francesco Severi to the theory of functions of several complex variables" (English translation of the title), 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.
• Fichera, Gaetano (1991), "I teoremi di Severi e Severi-Kneser per le funzioni analitiche più variabili complesse e loro ulteriori sviluppi", Recenti sviluppi in analisi matematica e sue applicazioni. Atti del convegno internazionale dedicato al Prof. G. Aquaro in occasione del suo 70º compleanno, Conferenze del Seminario di Matematica dell'Università di Bari, 237-244, Bari: Laterza, pp. 13–25, MR 1185553, Zbl 0836.32001. "The Severi and Severi–Kneser theorems for analytic functions of several complex variables and their further developments" (English translation of the title) is an historical survey paper on the Cauchy and the Dirichlet problem for holomorphic functions of several complex variables, updating the earlier work (Fichera 1982).
• Fichera, Gaetano (1995), "Tre battaglie perdute da tre grandi matematici italiani", Atti del convegno di studi in memoria di Giuseppe Gemignani. Modena, 20 maggio 1994, Collana di Studi dell'Accademia (in Italian), 11, Modena: Enrico Mucchi Editore on behalf of the Accademia Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti di Modena, pp. 9–28, MR 1385469. 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".
• Galletto, Dionigi (1982), "Il pensiero di Einstein nell'opera di Guido Fubini e Francesco Severi", Atti del convegno matematico in celebrazione del centenario nascita di Guido Fubini e Francesco Severi. Torino, 8–10 Ottobre 1979, Atti dell'Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. I. Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali, 115 (Supplemento), Torino: Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, pp. 205–216, MR 0727498, Zbl 0553.01012. In the paper "The thought of Einstein in the work of Guido Fubini and Francesco Severi" (English translation of the title), Dionigi Galletto describes the main contributions of the two scientists to special and general relativity.
• Range, R. Michael (2002), "Extension phenomena in multidimensional complex analysis: correction of the historical record", The Mathematical Intelligencer, 24 (2): 4–12, doi:10.1007/BF03024609, MR 1907191. 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.
• Range, R. Michael (2010), "Some landmarks in the history of the tangential Cauchy Riemann equations" (PDF), Rendiconti di Matematica e delle sue Applicazioni, 30 (3–4): 275–283, MR 2830305, Zbl pre05954009. An historical paper exploring further the same topic previously dealt in the paper (Range 2002) by the same author.

External links

• AAVV, (Various Authors), Francesco Severi, retrieved June 27, 2010: a very short biography of Severi, with a complete bibliography of his works, available at the "Geometria algebrica italiana (Italian algebraic geometry)" web site.
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (April 1997), "Francesco Severi", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. Contains also 12 further references.
• Giuntini, S., Francesco Severi, Matematici italiani (biografie) (in Italian), retrieved June 27, 2010: a short résumé of his life available at the "Societa Italiana di Storia delle Matematiche".
• Guerraggio, Angelo; Nastasi, Pietro; Tricomi, Francesco (2008–2010), "Francesco Severi (1879 - 1961)", Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana (in Italian), Scuola Normale Superiore. Available from the Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana.
• INdAM, Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica "Francesco Severi" (in Italian), retrieved June 26, 2011. The web site of the institute Francesco Severi founded.
• Francesco Severi at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.