Guido Zappa (7 December 1915 – 17 March 2015) was an Italian mathematician and a noted group theorist: his other main research interests were

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

and also the

history of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the History of mathematical notation, mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples ...

. Zappa was particularly known for some examples of

algebraic curves In mathematics, an affine algebraic plane curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two variables. A projective algebraic plane curve is the zero set in a projective plane of a homogeneous polynomial in three variables. An affine algebraic plane cu ...

that strongly influenced the ideas of

Francesco Severi Francesco Severi (13 April 1879 – 8 December 1961) was an Italian mathematician. He was the chair of the committee on Fields Medal in 1936, at the first delivery. Severi was born in Arezzo, Italy. He is famous for his contributions to algebra ...

Life and work

Honors

He was elected ordinary non-resident member of the

Accademia Pontaniana The Accademia Pontaniana was the first academy in the modern sense, as a learned society for scholars and humanists and guided by a formal statute. Patronized by Alfonso V of Aragon, it was founded by the poet Antonio Beccadelli in Naples durin ...

on June 16, 1949. On June 3, 1951, he was elected the corresponding member to the class of mathematical sciences of the Società Nazionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti in Napoli: subsequently, he became an ordinary member (2 June 1951) and ordinary non-resident member (15 December 1953). On 14 October 1960 he was elected corresponding member of the

Accademia Nazionale 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 ...

: he became national member of the same

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

on March 21, 1977.See the Lincean Academy yearbook (2012, p. 545).

Selected publications

*. This book is the first part of a monograph on

group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ( ...

, dealing extensively with many of its aspects. *. This book is the second part of a monograph in

dealing extensively with many of its aspects. *. This work describes the research activity at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

and at the (at that time newly created) " Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica Francesco Severi" from the end of the 1930s to the early 1940s.

Notes

References

Biographical and general references

*. The "''Yearbook''" of the renowned Italian scientific institution, including an historical sketch of its history, the list of all past and present members as well as a wealth of informations about its academic and scientific activities. *. The "Yearbook 2015" of the Accademia Pontaniana, published by the academy itself and describing its past and present hierarchies and its activities. It also gives some notes on its history, the full list of its members and other useful information. *. *. The biographical and bibliographical entry (updated up to 1976) on Guido Zappa, published under the auspices of the Accademia dei Lincei in a book collecting many profiles of its members living members up to 1976. * * *. The "Yearbook 2014" of the Società Nazionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti in Napoli, published by the society itself and describing its past and present hierarchies, and its activities. It also reports some notes on its history, the full list of its members and other useful information.

Scientific references

*. ''Guido Zappa and combinatorial geometry'' (English translation of the title), a paper from the ''Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Teoria dei Gruppi e Geometria Combinatoria - Firenze, Ottobre 23–26 1986, in onore di Guido Zappa'' (Proceedings of the international conference on group theory and combinatorial geometry held in Florence on October 23–26, 1986 in honor of Guido Zappa), describes his contributions to

combinatorial geometry Discrete geometry and combinatorial geometry are branches of geometry that study combinatorial properties and constructive methods of discrete geometric objects. Most questions in discrete geometry involve finite or discrete sets of basic geom ...

. *. ''Guido Zappa and group theory'' (English translation of the title), a paper from the ''Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Teoria dei Gruppi e Geometria Combinatoria - Firenze, Ottobre 23–26 1986, in onore di Guido Zappa'' (Proceedings of the international conference on group theory and combinatorial geometry held in Florence on October 23–26, 1986 in honor of Guido Zappa), describes his contributions to group theory. * *. ''The contributions of Zappa to algebraic geometry'' (English translation of the title), a paper from the ''Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Teoria dei Gruppi e Geometria Combinatoria - Firenze, Ottobre 23–26 1986, in onore di Guido Zappa'' (Proceedings of the international conference on group theory and combinatorial geometry held in Florence on October 23–26, 1986 in honor of Guido Zappa), describes his contributions to algebraic geometry.

External links

*
Guido Zappa academic member page
at the

Accademia delle Scienze di Torino Accademia (Italian for "academy") often refers to: * The Galleria dell'Accademia, an art museum in Florence * The Gallerie dell'Accademia, an art museum in Venice Accademia may also refer to: Academies of art * The Accademia Carrara di Belle ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zappa, Guido 1915 births 20th-century Italian mathematicians 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Italian mathematicians 21st-century Roman Catholics Algebraic geometers Italian algebraic geometers Group theorists Italian historians of mathematics Members of the Lincean Academy 2015 deaths