The historiography of mathematics in Italy has a long tradition dating back to the Renaissance (Bernardino Baldi, 201 biographies in his "Vite de' matematici"). Moreover, Italian scholars contributed to the transmission and history of science with translations, commentaries and editions of ancient classics, and chronologies were included in encyclopedic treatises of the sixteenth century. In a modern sense, however, the historiography of mathematics begins in the eighteenth century, when the history of mathematics was considered an area of the history of human thinking. In Italy it was initially developed as a part of Italian literature and inserted into general works (Giovanni Andres, Girolamo Tiraboschi). Critical analysis of mathematical theories and their historical foundations can be found in works of mathematicians like Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Gregorio Fontana, and Pietro Cossali. Giambattista Guglielmini, at beginning of the nineteenth century, provided, with his eulogy of Leonardo Pisano, a widely followed model in the historiography of the century: an expositive text and extensive bibliographic notes. An important work, which combined general overview, technical and archival investigation came out later: the famous "Histoire des sciences mathématiques en Italie" by Guglielmo Libri (4 volumes 1838-41). The historiography of mathematics developed in the second half of the century, after the political unification of Italy, with Baldassarre Boncompagni’s foundation of the "Bullettino di bibliografia e di storia delle scienze matematiche e fisiche" (20 volumes), which supplied both an international diffusion and primary sources. Antonio Favaro was the editor of Galileo's collected works, and Pietro Riccardi published a bibliographic work still of great importance, the "Biblioteca matematica italiana". In the first half of the twentieth century, two mathematicians became the main historians of mathematics: Gino Loria and Ettore Bortolotti. With the reconstruction of the university system following the second world war, the study of the history of mathematics was once again taken up, which, like mathematical studies, had to get back into contact with the international output that had been interrupted by the war and the last decades of the fascist period. The present paper is mainly devoted to the second world war period and, in particular, the last quarter of the century, when the community of Italian historians of mathematics has developed so that Italy became known as one of the main centres for this type of studies. The historiography of mathematics in Iyaly has increased with the publication, from 1981 on, of the "Bollettino di storia delle scienze matematiche" (29 volumes) and, in 2000, the foundation of the Italian Society for the History of Mathematics (SISM: Società Italiana di Storia delle Matematiche).
On the Historiography of Mathematics in Italy
BORGATO, Maria Teresa
2012
Abstract
The historiography of mathematics in Italy has a long tradition dating back to the Renaissance (Bernardino Baldi, 201 biographies in his "Vite de' matematici"). Moreover, Italian scholars contributed to the transmission and history of science with translations, commentaries and editions of ancient classics, and chronologies were included in encyclopedic treatises of the sixteenth century. In a modern sense, however, the historiography of mathematics begins in the eighteenth century, when the history of mathematics was considered an area of the history of human thinking. In Italy it was initially developed as a part of Italian literature and inserted into general works (Giovanni Andres, Girolamo Tiraboschi). Critical analysis of mathematical theories and their historical foundations can be found in works of mathematicians like Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Gregorio Fontana, and Pietro Cossali. Giambattista Guglielmini, at beginning of the nineteenth century, provided, with his eulogy of Leonardo Pisano, a widely followed model in the historiography of the century: an expositive text and extensive bibliographic notes. An important work, which combined general overview, technical and archival investigation came out later: the famous "Histoire des sciences mathématiques en Italie" by Guglielmo Libri (4 volumes 1838-41). The historiography of mathematics developed in the second half of the century, after the political unification of Italy, with Baldassarre Boncompagni’s foundation of the "Bullettino di bibliografia e di storia delle scienze matematiche e fisiche" (20 volumes), which supplied both an international diffusion and primary sources. Antonio Favaro was the editor of Galileo's collected works, and Pietro Riccardi published a bibliographic work still of great importance, the "Biblioteca matematica italiana". In the first half of the twentieth century, two mathematicians became the main historians of mathematics: Gino Loria and Ettore Bortolotti. With the reconstruction of the university system following the second world war, the study of the history of mathematics was once again taken up, which, like mathematical studies, had to get back into contact with the international output that had been interrupted by the war and the last decades of the fascist period. The present paper is mainly devoted to the second world war period and, in particular, the last quarter of the century, when the community of Italian historians of mathematics has developed so that Italy became known as one of the main centres for this type of studies. The historiography of mathematics in Iyaly has increased with the publication, from 1981 on, of the "Bollettino di storia delle scienze matematiche" (29 volumes) and, in 2000, the foundation of the Italian Society for the History of Mathematics (SISM: Società Italiana di Storia delle Matematiche).I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
