Francesco Brioschi (22 December 1824 – 13 December 1897) 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 ...
.
Biography
Brioschi was born in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
in 1824. He graduated from the
Collegio Borromeo in 1847.
From 1850 he taught
analytical mechanics
In theoretical physics and mathematical physics, analytical mechanics, or theoretical mechanics is a collection of closely related formulations of classical mechanics. Analytical mechanics uses '' scalar'' properties of motion representing the sy ...
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 ...
. After the
Italian unification
The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...
in 1861, he was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
and then appointed twice secretary of the
Italian Education Ministry. In 1863 he founded the
Polytechnic University of Milan, where he worked until his death, lecturing in
hydraulics
Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...
, analytical mechanics and
construction engineering
Construction engineering, also known as construction operations, is a professional subdiscipline of civil engineering that deals with the designing, planning, construction, and operations management of infrastructure such as roadways, tunnels, bri ...
. In 1865 he entered the
Senate of the Kingdom. In 1870 he became a member of the
Accademia dei lincei
The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...
and in 1884 he succeeded
Quintino Sella as president of the National Academy of the Lincei. He directed the ''Il Politecnico'' (''The Polytechnic'') review and, between 1867 and 1877, the ''Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata'' (''Annals of pure and applied mathematics''). He died in Milan in 1897.

As a mathematician, Brioschi published in Italy various algebraic theories and studied the problem of solving
fifth and
sixth-degree equations using
elliptic function
In the mathematical field of complex analysis, elliptic functions are special kinds of meromorphic functions, that satisfy two periodicity conditions. They are named elliptic functions because they come from elliptic integrals. Those integrals are ...
s. Brioschi is also remembered as a distinguished teacher: among his students at the University of Pavia, there were
Eugenio Beltrami,
Luigi Cremona and
Felice Casorati.
Works
*
Théorie des déterminants et leurs principales applications(Mallet-Bachelier, Paris, 1856) (French translation of "La teorica dei determinanti e le sue principali applicazioni" by E. Combescure)
*
*
Opere matematiche di Francesco Brioschi. Pubblicate per cura del comitato per le onoranze a Francesco Brioschi(G. Ascoli, E. Beltrami, G. Colombo, L. Cremona, G. Negri, G. Schiaparelli), vol. 1 (U. Hoepli, Milano, 1901–1909)
* ''Opere matematiche di Francesco Brioschi pubblicate per cura del Comitato per le onoranze a Francesco Brioschi...'' (vols. 1-5) (U. Hoepli, Milano, 1901–1909)
Brioschi, Francesco – Intorno ad alcuni punti della statica, 1853 – BEIC 12414595.jpg, ''Intorno ad alcuni punti della statica'', 1853
Francesco Brioschi – Delle traverse oblique alla direzione di un corso , 1866 - BEIC 6276027.tif, ''Delle traverse oblique alla direzione di un corso d'acqua'', 1866
Francesco Brioschi – Sopra un progetto di inchiesta idrometrica, 1867 - BEIC 6284562.tif, ''Sopra un progetto di inchiesta idrometrica'', 1867
See also
*
Brioschi formula
*
Brioschi quintic form
*
Politecnico di Milano
Notes
References
*''Grande Dizionario Enciclopedico'' (UTET, 1967)
*''Enciclopedia Universal ''(Rizzoli-Larousse, 1967)
External links
Mac Tutor biography*
* Tricomi: La Matematica Italiana 1800-1950 (entry o
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brioschi
1824 births
1897 deaths
Scientists from Milan
19th-century Italian mathematicians
Academic staff of the University of Pavia
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Academic staff of the Polytechnic University of Milan