Giovanni Ricci (17 August 1904 – 9 September 1973) was an Italian mathematician. He was born and brought up in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, where he did his school education. He then moved to

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

to study mathematics at the

Scuola Normale Superiore The Scuola Normale Superiore (commonly known in Italy as "la Normale") is a public university in Pisa and Florence, Tuscany, Italy, currently attended by about 600 undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) students. Together with the University of Pi ...

(associated with the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa (, UniPi) is a public university, public research university in Pisa, Italy. Founded in 1343, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Together with Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced S ...

). He was an assistant professor at the University of Rome for two years until 1928 when he moved to his alma mater Scuola Normale Superiore, where he was a professor for 8 years and produced research works in the fields of

number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...

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 ...

mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series ( ...

, and theory of series, with highly significant results being obtained on the

Goldbach conjecture Goldbach's conjecture is one of the oldest and best-known unsolved problems in number theory and all of mathematics. It states that every even natural number greater than 2 is the sum of two prime numbers. The conjecture has been shown to ho ...

and

Hilbert's seventh problem Hilbert's seventh problem is one of David Hilbert's list of open mathematical problems posed in 1900. It concerns the irrationality and transcendence of certain numbers (''Irrationalität und Transzendenz bestimmter Zahlen''). Statement of the p ...

.M Cugiani
Giovanni Ricci (1904-1973)
''Acta Arith.'' 46 (4) (1986), pp. 303-311. Ricci moved to the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

towards the end of 1936, where he remained as a professor for 36 years until his death on 9 September 1973. While in Milan, Ricci was largely committed to teaching and administrative work and his research output declined. Ricci served as the president of

Italian Mathematical Union The Italian Mathematical Union () is a mathematical society based in Italy. It was founded on December 7, 1922, by Luigi Bianchi, Vito Volterra, and most notably, Salvatore Pincherle, who became the Union's first President. History Salvator ...

from 1964 to 1967. He was 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 ...

since 1957. He was also a member of Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere. Ricci is noted to have had a significant influence on

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...

-winning mathematician

Enrico Bombieri Enrico Bombieri (born 26 November 1940) is an Italian mathematician, known for his work in analytic number theory, Diophantine geometry, complex analysis, and group theory. Bombieri is currently professor emeritus in the School of Mathematics ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricci, Giovanni 1904 births 1973 deaths 20th-century Italian mathematicians Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa alumni Academic staff of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Academic staff of the University of Milan Presidents of the Italian Mathematical Union