Delfino Codazzi (7 March 1824 in
Lodi – 21 July 1873 in
Pavia
Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086.
The city was a major polit ...
) 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 ...
.
[U. Amaldi, in Enciclopedia italiana, app. 1, Rome, (1938), 438.]
He made some important contributions to the
differential geometry
Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, lin ...
of surfaces, such as the
Codazzi–Mainardi equations.
Biography
He graduated in mathematics at the
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...
, where he was a pupil of
Antonio Bordoni. For a long period Codazzi taught first at the Ginnasio Liceale of
Lodi, then at the liceo of
Pavia
Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086.
The city was a major polit ...
. Meanwhile, he devoted himself to research in
differential geometry
Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, lin ...
.
In 1865, he was appointed professor of complementary algebra and
analytic geometry
In mathematics, analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. This contrasts with synthetic geometry.
Analytic geometry is used in physics and engineering, and als ...
at University of Pavia. He remained in his position at Pavia until his death in 1873.
He also obtained results concerning isometric lines,
geodesic triangles,
equiareal map
In differential geometry, an equiareal map, sometimes called an authalic map, is a smooth map from one surface to another that preserves the areas of figures.
Properties
If ''M'' and ''N'' are two Riemannian (or pseudo-Riemannian) surfaces, the ...
ping and the stability of floating bodies.
See also
*
Gauss–Codazzi equations
In Riemannian geometry and pseudo-Riemannian geometry, the Gauss–Codazzi equations (also called the Gauss–Codazzi–Weingarten-Mainardi equations or Gauss–Peterson–Codazzi formulas) are fundamental formulas that link together the induced m ...
*
Codazzi tensor In the mathematical field of differential geometry, a Codazzi tensor (named after Delfino Codazzi) is a symmetric 2-tensor whose covariant derivative is also symmetric. Such tensors arise naturally in the study of Riemannian manifolds with harmoni ...
Notes
External links
*
An Italian short biography of Delfino Codazziin ''Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana'' online.
1824 births
1873 deaths
People from Lodi, Lombardy
Differential geometers
19th-century Italian mathematicians
{{Italy-mathematician-stub