Giorgio Mortara (4 April 1885 – 1967) was an Italian

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

demographer Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...

, and

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

. He was the son of senator

Lodovico Mortara Lodovico Mortara (Mantua, 16 April 1855 – Rome, 1 January 1937) was an Italian jurist, magistrate and politician, who served as Minister of Justice with the first Nitti government. Early life and academic career Born into a Jewish family as an ...

, a noted jurist, magistrate and politician.

Biography

Giorgio held the academic rank of

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

at the

University of Messina The University of Messina ( it, Università degli Studi di Messina; Latin: ''Studiorum Universitas Messanae''), known colloquially as UniME, is a state university located in Messina, Sicily, Italy. Founded in 1548 by Pope Paul III, it was the world ...

from 1909 up 1914 in

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 ...

(1915–24) and

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 ...

(1924–38) and director of the Giornale degli economisti (1910–38). Giorgio lived in Berlin between 1907 and 1908, where he worked with L. von Bortkiewicz on

probability theory Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set o ...

and particularly on the law of rare events. He is famous also for the construction of statistical indices for measuring the conjunctural effects (economic barometers). He was forced to leave

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1939 for racial reasons, he moved to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, where he was technical advisor of the National Census (1939–1948) and the National Council of Statistics (1949–1957), where he created a flourishing school of demography. In 1954 he was nominated for the role of the president of the

International Union for the Scientific Study of Population International Union for the Scientific Study of Population is an international union for the study of human population Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exce ...

, of which he became the Honorary President (1957). In 1956, he returned to teach at the University of Rome, where he was appointed

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in 1961.

Education

In 1905, he obtained a degree in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

with a dissertation on

Demography Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...

Academic position

* Indian Head Professor in

(1909–1914),

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(1915–1924)

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

(1924–1938) and Butagan.

Honors and awards

* In 1947, he became the member of Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. * In 1952, he was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

.View/Search Fellows of the ASA
, accessed 2016-07-23. * In 1961, he was the Honorary President of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, and professor emeritus in University of Rome.

Publications

* Statistica economica e demografica (1920); * Prospettive economiche (1921–37); * Le popolazioni delle grandi città italiane (1908); * Lezioni di statistica metodologica (1922); * La salute pubblica in Italia durante e dopo la guerra (1925); * Sui metodi per lo studio della fecondità dei matrimoni, Giornale degli economisti (1933); * La realtà economica (1934); * L'Economia della popolazione (1960); * Raccolta di Saggi di metodologia demografica (1963); * Previsioni sull’incremento della popolazione nel mondo, L’industria (1958).

References

External links

Dizionario Biografico Degli Statistici
Italian statisticians 1885 births 1967 deaths Scientists from Mantua Fellows of the American Statistical Association Fellows of the Econometric Society Giornale degli economisti e annali di economia editors {{Statistician-stub