Barnaba Tortolini
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Barnaba Tortolini (19 November 1808 – 24 August 1874) was a 19th-century Italian
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
and mathematician who played an early active role in advancing the scientific unification of the Italian states. He founded the first Italian scientific journal with an international presence and was a distinguished professor of mathematics at the University of Rome for 30 years. As a mathematics researcher, he had more than one hundred mathematical papers to his credit in Italian, French, and German journals.


Early years

Tortolini was born on 19 November 1808, in Rome and studied literature and philosophy at the
Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...
, especially under
Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...
Andrea Caraffa (1789–1845) who was a mathematical physicist. He continued his mathematical and philosophic studies at the ''Archiginnasio Romano della Sapienza'' in Roma where he obtained the degree of ''
laurea ad honorem An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
'' in 1829. Subsequently, he attended the course for engineers before studying theology at the
Pontifical Roman Seminary , type = Major seminary , established = , founder = Pope Pius IV , parent = Diocese of Rome , religious_affiliation = Catholic Church , rector = Gabriele Fara ...
and took holy orders in 1832. Don Tortolini, along with Don Michele Ambrosini, was put in charge of the
Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
of '' Santa Maria dei Martiri'' (Our Lady of the Martyrs) from 1860, and then alone after the latter's death in 1866. Edoardo Borromeo Arese, the
Papal majordomo The papal majordomo or chief steward of the household of the pope is one of the three (formerly four) palatine prelates (''prelati palatini''), concerning whom particulars have been given in the article maestro di camera. He belongs also to the ...
, enabled Tortolini to join the “''Camerieri d’onore in abito paonazzo'' (Chamberlains of Honor of the Purple)" in 1861; this was a former honorary office of the
Papal Court The papal household or pontifical household (usually not capitalized in the media and other nonofficial use, ), called until 1968 the Papal Court (''Aula Pontificia''), consists of dignitaries who assist the pope in carrying out particular ceremoni ...
. As his biography shows, Tortolini had a foot in both the religious and scientific worlds. As a priest and noted academic at major universities of the city, he was an official figure with stature in the
Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
. Yet his own correspondences with
Enrico Betti Enrico Betti Glaoui (21 October 1823 – 11 August 1892) was an Italian mathematician, now remembered mostly for his 1871 paper on topology that led to the later naming after him of the Betti numbers. He worked also on the theory of equations, giv ...
show his concern as an editor and mathematician with careful attention to detail, concern for content and awareness of the latest foreign developments.


Teaching career

In February 1835, Tortolini began his career as professor of mathematical physics at the
Pontifical Urban University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian,; it, Pontificia Università Urbaniana. is a pontifical university under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People ...
, an institution run by the
Pontifical A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy O ...
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...
(long called the "Propaganda"), directed to the promotion of the worldwide Catholic overseas missions. The College was founded by Pope
Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII ( la, Urbanus VIII; it, Urbano VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death in July 1644. As po ...
in 1627. It came under the authority of the Congregation in 1641, and received the title "Pontifical" from Pope
John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
in 1962. A year later, in 1836, Tortolini was appointed to the chair of mechanics and hydraulics at the University of Rome where, in 1837, he obtained by competition the professorship of introductory higher calculus. Following in the same year, he was also appointed professor of differential and integral calculus. At the Pontifical Roman Seminary, his alma mater, he assumed the professorship of mathematical physics in 1846 and began directing the publication of ''Propaganda Fide'', founded in 1626. This editorship he pursued from 1846 to 1865. Professionally, his interests in research ranged from definite and elliptic integrals, calculus of residues, and applications of various differential equations. He was quoted in the works of
Augustin Louis Cauchy Baron Augustin-Louis Cauchy (, ; ; 21 August 178923 May 1857) was a French mathematician, engineer, and physicist who made pioneering contributions to several branches of mathematics, including mathematical analysis and continuum mechanics. He w ...
,
George Boole George Boole (; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher, and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ire ...
,
Joseph Liouville Joseph Liouville (; ; 24 March 1809 – 8 September 1882) was a French mathematician and engineer. Life and work He was born in Saint-Omer in France on 24 March 1809. His parents were Claude-Joseph Liouville (an army officer) and Thérèse ...
, and Betti. He was honored with membership in the most eminent Italian societies and became a foreign minister of the
Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...
in
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
. As a teacher, he was applauded for over 30 years at the University of Rome. He devoted his life to raising the standards of scientific education on the peninsula at a time when Italy as a newly formed European power in 1860 needed a cultural presence on par with France, Germany, and England.


Founding of the ''Annali''

Although he was a productive mathematician and devoted teacher, Tortolini is mainly remembered for his role in founding and publishing the first Italian international scientific journal, then published under the now defunct title, '' Annali di scienze matematiche e fisiche'', from 1850 to 1857. This journal gathered and disseminated the work of the most notable scholars of the exact sciences in order to revive a love for higher educational studies in Italy and to bring to notice to other nations the scientific activity of the peninsula. By publishing his own research abroad, he underscored his belief in the importance of the internationalization of mathematical results and made contact with differing cultures reflecting the views and standards of rigor promoted by foreign editors. During his tenure, the journal's content skewed progressively more towards pure mathematics and away from application and topics in other sciences. Among the foreign authors who published in his journal were
Arthur Cayley Arthur Cayley (; 16 August 1821 – 26 January 1895) was a prolific United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British mathematician who worked mostly on algebra. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics. As a child, C ...
,
Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (; ; 10 December 1804 – 18 February 1851) was a German mathematician who made fundamental contributions to elliptic functions, dynamics, differential equations, determinants, and number theory. His name is occasiona ...
,
J. J. Sylvester James Joseph Sylvester (3 September 1814 – 15 March 1897) was an English mathematician. He made fundamental contributions to matrix theory, invariant theory, number theory, partition theory, and combinatorics. He played a leadership ...
and the Irishman William Roberts. Betti pioneered work in Galois theory of irreducible equations of prime degree at the encouragement of Tortolini. In 1858, the journal was restructured to include an editorial board composed of Tortolini, Betti,
Luigi Cremona Antonio Luigi Gaudenzio Giuseppe Cremona (7 December 1830 – 10 June 1903) was an Italian mathematician. His life was devoted to the study of geometry and reforming advanced mathematical teaching in Italy. He worked on algebraic curves and alge ...
,
Francesco Brioschi Francesco Brioschi (22 December 1824 – 13 December 1897) was an Italian mathematician. Biography Brioschi was born in Milan in 1824. He graduated from the Collegio Borromeo in 1847. From 1850 he taught analytical mechanics in the University o ...
and
Angelo Genocchi Angelo Genocchi (5 March 1817 – 7 March 1889) was an Italian mathematician who specialized in number theory. He worked with Giuseppe Peano. The Genocchi number In mathematics, the Genocchi numbers G''n'', named after Angelo Genocchi, are a s ...
. This was the last year of the ''Annali’s'' publication as broader geopolitical trends called for a more focused new journal of pure mathematics to witness the opening stages of what would become the unification of Italy by 1861. This was one of the reasons why Brioschi and Cremona later moved the ''Annali'' to
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in 1867. The journal which replaced the former ''Annali'' became the ''Annali di matematica pura ed applicata'' and its first series reigned from 1858 to 1865 but published in Roma. The numerical parity between foreign and Italian contributors became equal. The Editorial Board members contributed their own papers vigorously. Betti even started the publication of a translation of Riemann's
inaugural dissertation A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
.


Reformation of the ''Annali''

After a hiatus in 1866, Cremona and Brioschi proposed to stop publication of the journal due to Tortolini's "mishandling" — according to their opinion. The political process of unification was very long and painful and the role played by the Church was not exactly pointing toward unification. The ''Annali'' finally moved to Milan in 1867 to distance itself from the Papal State. Cremona and Brioschi called for another new journal series enlisting the collaboration of Europe's leading mathematicians. Tortolini once again graciously went along. The second series ran from July 1867 to May 1868 but that was only the first volume. The second series lasted way longer. The new ''Annali'' saw contributions from
Alfred Clebsch Rudolf Friedrich Alfred Clebsch (19 January 1833 – 7 November 1872) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to algebraic geometry and invariant theory. He attended the University of Königsberg and was habilitated at Berlin. ...
, Elwin Christoffel,
Paul Gordan __NOTOC__ Paul Albert Gordan (27 April 1837 – 21 December 1912) was a Jewish-German mathematician, a student of Carl Jacobi at the University of Königsberg before obtaining his PhD at the University of Breslau (1862),. and a professor a ...
,
Camille Jordan Marie Ennemond Camille Jordan (; 5 January 1838 – 22 January 1922) was a French mathematician, known both for his foundational work in group theory and for his influential ''Cours d'analyse''. Biography Jordan was born in Lyon and educated at ...
, Cayley,
Charles Hermite Charles Hermite () FRS FRSE MIAS (24 December 1822 – 14 January 1901) was a French mathematician who did research concerning number theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions, and algebra. Hermi ...
, Rudolf Sturm,
Carl Neumann Carl Gottfried Neumann (also Karl; 7 May 1832 – 27 March 1925) was a German mathematician. Biography Neumann was born in Königsberg, Prussia, as the son of the mineralogist, physicist and mathematician Franz Ernst Neumann (1798–1895), who w ...
,
Hermann Schwarz Karl Hermann Amandus Schwarz (; 25 January 1843 – 30 November 1921) was a German mathematician, known for his work in complex analysis. Life Schwarz was born in Hermsdorf, Silesia (now Jerzmanowa, Poland). In 1868 he married Marie Kummer, ...
and
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann (; 17 September 1826 – 20 July 1866) was a German mathematician who made contributions to analysis, number theory, and differential geometry. In the field of real analysis, he is mostly known for the first rig ...
. ''Pari passu'', Tortolini's influence over the content of the second series ebbed. At the end of the century, the new journal had become one of Europe's premiere mathematical journals. This new ''Annali'' enjoys continuity into the present day.


''L'envoi''

In the early years, in his role as sole editor of the ''Annali'', Tortolini corresponded with all the major scientists of his day. Aside from Betti, Tortolini was one of the few Italian contemporaries to tap into foreign journals and by doing so established a rapport with the finest minds of his time including
Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes refer ...
,
Joseph Louis Lagrange Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi LagrangiaLuigi Bianchi Luigi Bianchi (18 January 1856 – 6 June 1928) was an Italians, Italian mathematician. He was born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, and died in Pisa. He was a leading member of the vigorous Italian school of algebraic geometry, geometric school which fl ...
,
Tullio Levi-Civita Tullio Levi-Civita, (, ; 29 March 1873 – 29 December 1941) was an Italian mathematician, most famous for his work on absolute differential calculus (tensor calculus) and its applications to the theory of relativity, but who also made significa ...
,
Charles Hermite Charles Hermite () FRS FRSE MIAS (24 December 1822 – 14 January 1901) was a French mathematician who did research concerning number theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions, and algebra. Hermi ...
,
Niels Abel Niels Henrik Abel ( , ; 5 August 1802 – 6 April 1829) was a Norwegian mathematician who made pioneering contributions in a variety of fields. His most famous single result is the first complete proof demonstrating the impossibility of solvin ...
,
Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (; 13 February 1805 – 5 May 1859) was a German mathematician who made deep contributions to number theory (including creating the field of analytic number theory), and to the theory of Fourier series and ...
,
Sir William Thomson William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (26 June 182417 December 1907) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, he did important ...
, Augustus De Morgan, J. J. Sylvester,
Gabriel Lamé Gabriel Lamé (22 July 1795 – 1 May 1870) was a French mathematician who contributed to the theory of partial differential equations by the use of curvilinear coordinates, and the mathematical theory of elasticity (for which linear elasticity ...
, and Eugenio Beltrami. His contributions to mathematical research — over one hundred papers — have yet to be assessed on their own merits. On 20 September 1870, after refusing to sign a loyalty oath to the King of Italy upon invasion and occupation of Roma by the Italian troops led by Raffaele Cadorna, Tortolini lost the chair of calculus at Roma. A year earlier he had become paralyzed and was ultimately forced to retire his various positions. He died in
Ariccia Ariccia (Latin: ''Aricia'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy, southeast of Rome. It is in the Alban Hills of the Lazio (Latium) region and could be considered an extension of Rome's southeastern suburbs. On ...
,
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
, on 24 August 1874.


Honors

The street “''Via Barnaba Tortolini''” in Rome is named for Tortolini.


Footnotes

* For a list of Tortolini's mathematical works, see Vincenzo Diorio, “Interno alla vita e ai lavori di Monsignore D. Barnaba Tortolini,” Atti della Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei 28 (1874): pp. 93–106 on pp. 100–106.


References

*Laura Martini, "The Politics of Unification: Barnaba Tortolini and the Publication of Research Mathematics in Italy, 1850–1865," in Il sogno di Galois: Scritti di storia della matematica dedicati a Laura Toti Rigatelli per il suo 60º compleanno. A cura di R. Franci, P. Pagli e A. Simi (Siena: Centro Studi della Matematica Medioevale, Università di Siena, 2003): 171–198. *Laura Martini, “The Politics of Unification: Barnaba Tortolini and the Publication of Research Mathematics in Italy, 1850–1865”, ''Centro Studi della Matematica Medioevale'',
University of Siena The University of Siena ( it, Università degli Studi di Siena, abbreviation: UNISI) in Siena, Tuscany, is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called ''Studium Senese'', the institution was founded in 1240 ...
, 2003. *Laura Martini, "Political and Mathematical Unification: Algebraic Research in Italy, 1850–1914", Ph.D. Dissertation,
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
, May 2006. *“Commemorazione di Barnaba Tortolini (1808–1874)”,Annali di matematica pura ed applicata, ser. 2, 7 (May 1875–October 1876), pp. 63–64. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tortolini, Barnaba 1808 births 1874 deaths 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests 19th-century Italian mathematicians Scientists from Rome Catholic clergy scientists Sapienza University of Rome faculty Clergy from Rome