Cesare Burali-Forti (13 August 1861 – 21 January 1931) was an Italian
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
, after whom the
Burali-Forti paradox is named. He was a prolific writer, with 180 publications.
Biography
Burali-Forti was born in
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...
, and he obtained his degree from the
University of Pisa in 1884. In 1886, after two years of middle-school service in Scicily, Burali-Forti won a competition to become professor of analytic and projective geometry at the military academy in Turin.
He was an assistant of
Giuseppe Peano
Giuseppe Peano (; ; 27 August 1858 – 20 April 1932) was an Italian mathematician and glottologist. The author of over 200 books and papers, he was a founder of mathematical logic and set theory, to which he contributed much Mathematical notati ...
in
Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
from 1894 to 1896, during which time he discovered a theorem which
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...
later realised contradicted a previously proved result by
Georg Cantor
Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor ( ; ; – 6 January 1918) was a mathematician who played a pivotal role in the creation of set theory, which has become a foundations of mathematics, fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor establi ...
. The contradiction came to be known as the
Burali-Forti paradox of Cantorian
set theory
Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory – as a branch of mathema ...
. He died in Turin.
Books by C. Burali-Forti
Analyse vectorielle générale: Applications à la mécanique et à la physique.with
Roberto Marcolongo (Mattéi & co., Pavia, 1913).
Corso di geometria analitico-proiettiva per gli allievi della R. Accademia Militare(G. B. Petrini di G. Gallizio, Torino, 1912).
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 razionalewith
Tommaso Boggio (S. Lattes & c., Torino, 1921).
Logica Matematica (Hoepli, Milano, 1894).
Complete listing of publications and bibliography, 8 pages.
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
Ivor Owen Grattan-Guinness (23 June 1941 – 12 December 2014) was a historian of mathematics and logic.
Life
Grattan-Guinness was born in Bakewell, England; his father was a mathematics teacher and educational administrator. He gained his ...
, 2000. ''The Search for Mathematical Roots 1870-1940''. Princeton Uni. Press.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
"Introduction to Differential Geometry, following the method of H. Grassmann"(English translation)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burali-Forti, Cesare
1861 births
1931 deaths
20th-century Italian mathematicians
Set theorists