Vita scientifica di Giorgio Bidone. Torino dopo Lagrange

The present work provides a framework of mathematical sciences in Turin in the period from 1766 (the year of Lagrange’s departure from Turin) to the end of the 1830s. This research is mainly based on documents from the Archive Collection of Giorgio Bidone, conserved in the Central Library of the Politecnico di Milano. The mathematician and hydraulic engineer Giorgio Bidone (1781-1839) play¬ed an important role in science in Piedmont in the first half of the eighteenth cen¬tury. Two of the most important figures in the Piedmontese scientific and cultural milieu, especially after the departure of Lagrange, inspired Bidone’s studies in mathematics and hydraulics: the philosopher and mathematician Tommaso Val-perga di Caluso (1737-1815), and Francesco Domenico Michelotti (1710-1787), professor of hydraulics at the University of Turin. In the first part of this book, we give a broad overview of the lives and works of Michelotti and Caluso, which form the backdrop for the scientific work of Bidone. The second part is devoted to Giorgio Bidone himself: his life, research activi¬ties, and his role as a teacher at the University of Turin, where he was a professor of hydraulics and descriptive geometry. His most important scientific contributions were in the field of hydraulics, and combined mathematical theory and practical experience. Thanks to a structure for hydraulic experiments, the Stabilimento della Parella, created in Turin to study the motion of water, Bidone carried out nume¬rous experiments to validate the empirical formulas then in use. He also played a significant role of guide and his pupils included some of the most important scientific figures of the next generation, such as Carlo Ignazio Giulio, Luigi Federico Menabrea and Prospero Richelmy. The attached CD-ROM contains an overview of the historical context of Bido¬ne’s life and work and a detailed description of the Archives Collection of Bidone, as well as transcriptions of important manuscripts, most of which come from that archive and document research and educational activities of the Piedmontese scientist.

Nel panorama scientifico della prima metà dell’Ottocento, emerge la figura del matematico ed idraulico piemontese Giorgio Bidone (1781-1839). Il volume ne ricostruisce l’opera scientifica, a partire dall’esame del principale fondo archivistico sull’argomento presente fuori Torino: l’archivio di Giorgio Bidone, ora alla Biblioteca Centrale del Politecnico di Milano. Nel volume si ricostruisce la vita scientifica di Bidone, dalla formazione fino ad arrivare al periodo a cavallo tra gli anni venti e trenta dell’Ottocento, che rappresentano l’apice della sua carriera accademica e professionale. Si presentano poi le ricerche di analisi matematica, condotte su tematiche particolarmente rilevanti all’epoca, dagli studi sulla costante di Euler - Mascheroni, a quelli sugli integrali definiti e sulle trascendenti ellittiche, e quelle nel campo dell’idrodinamica e dell’idraulica, settori nei quali Bidone ha dato i contributi più significativi e per i quali è ancora oggi ricordato. A conclusione del lavoro, si illustra l’attività didattica di Bidone come professore all’Università di Torino e come direttore dello Stabilimento Idraulico della Parella. La documentazione inedita che completa il volume a stampa e la descrizione dettagliata del Fondo Bidone del Politecnico di Milano si trovano nel CD-ROM allegato.