Francesco Faà di Bruno (7 March 1825 – 25 March 1888) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 partic ...

and advocate of the poor, a leading

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, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

of his era and a noted religious musician. In 1988 he was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

.See the Vatican News Service, "''Papal Office for Liturgical Celebrations''" . He is the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

Faà di Bruno's formula Faà di Bruno's formula is an identity in mathematics generalizing the chain rule to higher derivatives. It is named after , although he was not the first to state or prove the formula. In 1800, more than 50 years before Faà di Bruno, the French ...

Life

Early life

Faà di Bruno was born in Alessandria, then part of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

, on 7 March 1825. He was of noble birth, being the twelfth and youngest child of the

Marchese A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman w ...

Luigi Faà di Bruno and the Lady Carolina Sappa de' Milanesi. He was raised in a home marked by happiness, the arts and a concern for the poor arising from the parents' strong Catholic faith. As a young man, he entered the Royal Army and held, at one time, the rank of

Staff Officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military ...

. He resigned his commission, and went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he did doctoral studies in mathematics under

Augustin 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 ...

, and

Urbain Le Verrier Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier FRS (FOR) H FRSE (; 11 March 1811 – 23 September 1877) was a French astronomer and mathematician who specialized in celestial mechanics and is best known for predicting the existence and position of Neptune usin ...

, who both shared in the discovery of the planet Neptune.. He was in close contact with the mathematicians

François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno Abbé François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno (; 15 April 1804 – 14 July 1884) was a French Catholic priest and one time Jesuit, as well as a physicist and author. He considered himself a student of Cauchy. Life Moigno was born at Guémené-sur-Scorf ...

and

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 ...

. On his return to Turin, he took up the position of Professor of Mathematics at the local university. In recognition of his achievements as a mathematician, the degree of Doctor of Science was conferred on him by the Universities of Paris and Turin.

Social reformer

While carrying out his career responsibilities, Faà di Bruno also became actively involved in the social outreach to the poor being developed by leading figures of the Catholic Church in Turin. He became a close friend of

John Bosco John Melchior Bosco ( it, Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco; pms, Gioann Melchior Bòsch; 16 August 181531 January 1888), popularly known as Don Bosco , was an Italian Catholic priest, educator, writer and saint of the 19th century. While working ...

, and helped establish refuges for the elderly and the poor. He oversaw the construction of a church in Turin, Our Lady of Suffrage.Pope John Paul II, Message to the Institute of the Minim Sisters of Our Lady of Suffrage, September 2, 2002
/ref>

Priest and founder

Somewhat late in his life, Faà di Bruno came to feel that pursuing Holy Orders would help him in his religious activities, and commenced the necessary studies in

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. What he found, however, was that the

Archbishop of Turin The Archdiocese of Turin ( la, Archidioecesis Taurinensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in Italy.Pope Pius IX and received his support, finally being ordained at age 51. He founded the Minim Sisters of St. Zita in 1881 to provide help for maids and domestic servants, later expanding its outreach to include others, such as unmarried mothers. With their help, he also established another refuge, one dedicated to taking in prostitutes. Faà di Bruno died in Turin on 25 March 1888.

Veneration

The cause for the canonization of Faà di Bruno opened in the early 20th century by the Archdiocese of Turin and he was declared a Servant of God. He was declared

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

in 1971, and

on the centennial of his death in 1988. In an address to the Minim Sisters in 2002, Pope John Paul II said, ""Francesco Faà di Bruno", I said, is "a giant of faith and charity", for his message of light and love, "far from being exhausted, seems timelier than ever, urging all those who have Gospel values at heart to action"" (Homily, 25 September, n. 4; ORE, 24 October 1988, p. 15).

Research in mathematics

In addition to some ascetical writings, the composition of some sacred melodies, and the invention of some scientific apparatus, Faà di Bruno made numerous and important contributions to mathematics. Today, he is best known for

on derivatives of composite functions although it is now certain

Louis François Antoine Arbogast Louis François Antoine Arbogast (4 October 1759 – 8 April 1803) was a French mathematician. He was born at Mutzig in Alsace and died at Strasbourg, where he was professor. He wrote on series and the derivatives known by his name: he was the ...

had priority for its discovery and use. Faà di Bruno should be credited only for the formula's determinant form. However, his work is mainly related to

elimination theory Elimination may refer to: Science and medicine *Elimination reaction, an organic reaction in which two functional groups split to form an organic product *Bodily waste elimination, discharging feces, urine, or foreign substances from the body ...

and to the theory of elliptic functions.See and various papers in the volume edited by : particularly the later reference states that he introduced the

to deal with problems in elimination theory. He was the author of about 40 original articles published in the "Journal de Mathématiques" (edited by

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 ...

), Crelle's Journal, "American Journal of Mathematics" (

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

), "Annali di Tortolini", "Les Mondes", " Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences", etc.; the first half of an exhaustive treatise on the theory and applications of elliptic functions which he planned to complete in three volumes; "Théorie générale de l'élimination" (Paris, 1859); "Calcolo degli errori" (Turin, 1867), translated into French under the title of "Traité élémentaire du calcul des erreurs" (Paris, 1869); and most important of all, "Théorie des formes binaires" (Paris, 1876), translated into German (Leipzig, 1881). For a list of the memoirs of Faà di Bruno, see the "Catalogue of Scientific Papers of the Royal Society: (London, 1868, 1877, 1891), t. II, vii, and ix. Among his students were the noted mathematicians

Corrado Segre Corrado Segre (20 August 1863 – 18 May 1924) was an Italian mathematician who is remembered today as a major contributor to the early development of algebraic geometry. Early life Corrado's parents were Abramo Segre and Estella De Ben ...

and

Giuseppe Peano Giuseppe Peano (; ; 27 August 1858 – 20 April 1932) was an Italian mathematician and glottologist. The author of over 200 books and papers, he was a founder of mathematical logic and set theory, to which he contributed much notation. The sta ...

Notes

References

Biographical and general references

*. "''The mathematical work''" is an essay on the mathematical activity, describing both his research and teaching, of Francesco Faà di Bruno. *. This is a collection of essays, including original documents, related to Francesco Faà di Bruno's scientific work, including his teaching and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

ing activity. *. Faà di Bruno's "''Opera omnia''". *. The original article in the

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

whose content was originally included in this entry. *. This reference and the following one (part two) deal with aspects of the biography of Faà di Bruno other than his scientific achievements. *. This is part two of a biographical article about Francesco Faà di Bruno, concerning aspects of his life other than his scientific achievements. *. Available from the website of the. *. The date of his

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

as listed in the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

web site.

Scientific references

*. Entirely freely available from

Google books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

. *. *. A well-known paper where Francesco Faà di Bruno presents the two versions of the formula that now bears his name, published in the journal founded by

Barnaba Tortolini Barnaba Tortolini (19 November 1808 – 24 August 1874) was a 19th-century Italian priest and mathematician who played an early active role in advancing the scientific unification of the Italian states. He founded the first Italian scientific ...

. Available free from

. *. Entirely freely available from

. *. One of Faà di Bruno most important work, highly praised by

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 ...

(see his letter to Faà di Bruno at page V). *.

External links

* The (fairly comprehensive) biographical entry about Francesco Faà di Bruno in the biographies section of the

Enciclopedia Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' (Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language en ...

. * *. A short biographical sketch, available from the website of
Torinoscienza.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faa Di Bruno, Francesco 1825 births 1888 deaths Faa di Bruno University of Turin faculty 19th-century Italian mathematicians 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Faa di Bruno Catholic clergy scientists Italian anti-poverty advocates Founders of Catholic religious communities Italian beatified people Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Scientists from Turin