Cesare Burali-Forti
Cesare Burali-Forti | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 August 1861 |
| Died | 21 January 1931 (aged 69) |
| Known for | Burali-Forti paradox |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
Cesare Burali-Forti (13 August 1861 – 21 January 1931) was an Italian mathematician, after whom the Burali-Forti paradox is named.[1] He was a prolific writer, with 200 publications.[2]
Biography
Burali-Forti was born in Arezzo, and he obtained his degree from the University of Pisa in 1884.[3] In 1886, after two years of middle-school service in Sicily, Burali-Forti won a competition to become professor of analytic and projective geometry at the military academy in Turin.[4] He was an assistant of Giuseppe Peano in Turin from 1894 to 1896, during which time he discovered a theorem which Bertrand Russell later realised contradicted a previously proved result by Georg Cantor. The contradiction came to be known as the Burali-Forti paradox of Cantorian set theory. He died in Turin.
Family
He married Gemma Viviani on 29 October 1887 and they had a son named Umberto.[1]
Books by C. Burali-Forti
- Analyse vectorielle générale: Applications à la mécanique et à la physique. with Roberto Marcolongo (Mattéi & co., Pavia, 1913).
- Applications à la mécanique et à la physique. With Tommasio Boggio and Roberto Marcolongo (Mattei & co., 1913) [5]
- Corso di geometria analitico-proiettiva per gli allievi della R. Accademia Militare (G. B. Petrini di G. Gallizio, Torino, 1912).
- Elementi di calcolo vettoriale con numerose applicazioni alla geometria, alla meccanica e alla fisica-matematica. With Roberto Marcolongo (N. Zanichelli, 1920) [5]
- Geometria descrittiva (S. Lattes & c., Torino, 1921).
- Introduction à la géométrie différentielle, suivant la méthode de H. Grassmann (Gauthier-Villars, 1897).
- Lezioni Di Geometria Metrico-Proiettiva (Fratelli Bocca, Torino, 1904).
- Meccanica razionale with Tommaso Boggio (S. Lattes & c., Torino, 1921).
- Logica Matematica (Hoepli, Milano, 1894).
- Complete listing of publications and bibliography, 8 pages. Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
Bibliography
Primary literature in English translation:
- Jean van Heijenoort, 1967. A Source Book in Mathematical Logic, 1879-1931. Harvard Univ. Press.
- 1897. "A question on transfinite numbers," 104-11.
- 1897. "On well-ordered classes," 111-12.
Secondary literature:
- Ivor Grattan-Guinness, 2000. The Search for Mathematical Roots 1870-1940. Princeton Uni. Press.
References
- ^ a b "Burali-Forti". University of St Andrews: Maths History. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
- ^ "Cesare Burali-Forti's publications". Maths History. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ "Burali-Forti, Cesare | Encyclopedia.com". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ Marchisotto, Elena; Smith, James T. (2007). The legacy of Mario Pieri in geometry and arithmetic. Boston, Mass. New York: Birkhäuser Springer [distributor]. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8176-4603-5.
- ^ a b "Burali-Forti, Cesare". University of Pennsylvania, Online Books. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
Further reading
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Cesare Burali-Forti", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews