VITO VOLTERRA

…The Story of a greatMathematician

A FAMOUS MATHEMATICIANVito Volterra (Ancona, on the 3 of

May 1860 – Roma, on the 11 of October 1940) was an Italian mathematician and physicist.

He attended University in 1878. When he was only 23, he became a professor of rational mechanic in the University of Pisa.

He reviewed and developped Pierre François Verhulst and Umberto D'Ancona’s researches. His most famous resoults were Volterra-Lotka’s equations about the food chain.

In 1931 Benito Mussolini ordered all the1.200 professors to swear loyalty to the Government. Only 12 refused, among whom Vito Volterra. So he left the Universities and his many charges in the Italian scientific academies.

He said: “The mathematician can use an

admirable and precious instrument. He’s got, so to speak, the key that opens the passing to many unclear mysteries of the Universe, and it’s a means to sum it up in few symbols, a compendium which includes and connects ample results of several sciences.”