Pietro Paoli (2 March 1759 – 21 February 1839) was an Italian

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 ...

Life and work

Paoli studied in the Jesuit college of his birthplace. In 1774 he went to

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

to study Law. In Pisa he graduated in 1778, but he was more interested in physical and mathematical issues. In 1780 he became professor in the High School of

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...

and in 1782 he was appointed professor in the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...

, where he learned mathematics from

Gregorio Fontana Gregorio Fontana, born Giovanni Battista Lorenzo Fontana (7 December 1735 – 24 August 1803) was an Italian mathematician and a religious of the Piarist order. He was chair of mathematics at the university of Pavia succeeding Roger Joseph Boscov ...

. In 1784 Paoli was appointed to the chair of

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary ...

in the University of Pisa, where he was until 1814. In the meantime he was appointed, also, ''Regio Consultore Idraulico'' of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. During his docent period he had as students some important scientists: Gabrio Piola, Vincenzo Brunacci, Pietro Franchini, Giuliano Frullani, Giovanni Santini or Antonio Bordoni. In 1814 he became ''Auditor'' (Governor) of the University of Pisa and was in charge of the redaction of the new rules of the university. From 1816 he lived in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

because he was named secretary of education of the Grand Duchy. Besides this function, he was named president of the commission in charge of drafting the new cadastre of Tuscany. He was member of the '' Società Italiana dei Quaranta'' from his foundation (1782) and of other Italian scientific academies. Paoli worked mainly in

calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithm ...

and his applications to optics and mechanics. In spite of his duties, there are only two works on hydraulics. His main work was ''Elementi di Algebra'' in two volumes (1794) which was widely distributed in Italy for many years.. McTutor History of Mathematics.

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paoli, Pietro 1759 births 1839 deaths 18th-century Italian mathematicians