Antonio Maria Lorgna

Antonio Maria Lorgna, portrait by Pietro Rotari

Antonio Maria Lorgna (born October 18, 1735 in Cerea , † June 28, 1796 in Verona ) was an Italian mathematician and engineer. In 1782 he was the founder of the Accademia dei XL .

Life

Lorgna was the son of a cavalry officer in the Venetian army. In 1757 he was in Dalmatia (in today's Croatia ), at that time under Venetian rule, and supported the engineer officer Antonio Marcovich. He stood out for his intelligence and became secretary and translator (he spoke Croatian and French) of the Venetian governor Alvise Contarini. When Contarini returned to Venice in 1759, he enabled Lorgna to study at the University of Padua , where he studied physics, astronomy and mathematics, among others with Giovanni Poleni and Giovanni Alberto Colombo . Lorgna left Padua after three years in 1762 without a degree and went to the Venetian military. After some service in Croatia he became professor of mathematics (and captain of the pioneers) at the military academy for engineers Castelvecchio in Verona. He taught trigonometry, mechanics, statics, ballistics and hydraulics. In 1773 he became a colonel and then commander of the engineering corps. From 1784 he was director (governor) of the military academy and brigadier. He never married and died of a heart condition in his home. At the end of his life Verona came under the rule of Napoleon, who moved the military academy, headed by his successor Leonardo Salimbeni (1752–1832), to Modena in 1798.

He was friends with prominent Italian scientists and discussed scientific issues with them, which led to the establishment of the Italian National Academy of Sciences in 1782. Also involved were Ruggero Boscovich , Gianfrancesco Malfatti , Lazzaro Spallanzani and Carlo Barletti (1735-1800), who were friends with Lorgna . But the driving force behind the foundation was Lorgna. An important motive for founding the academy was also to create a journal with the academy that published scientific results quickly (without the delay that Italian scientists had experienced with publications abroad until then). From the beginning it was nationally designed beyond the individual Italian states. Membership was limited to the top 40 Italian scientists. The seat was first Verona, then Milan, Modena and from 1875 Rome. Lorgna, who owned an excellent collection of paintings, sold it in 1781 to finance the founding of the academy and its magazine (Memorie). At that time, Alessandro Volta and Joseph-Louis Lagrange were also members .

He was known for his math skills (Boscovich considered him the best Italian mathematician after Lagrange). He has made over 70 publications.

Lorgna: Opuscula mathematica et physica 1770

In addition to mathematics, he dealt with meteorology (he maintained a weather station and kept daily logs) and worked as a hydraulic engineer for the Republic of Venice and in the vicinity of Verona. After working as an engineer at the Recoaro mineral springs , he also took an interest in chemistry and took part in a prize competition from the French Academy of Sciences on the best and cheapest way to make gunpowder, which won second prize (Recherches sur la formation et la multiplication des nitres).

In 1788 he became a member of the Royal Society , and from 1771 he was a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences .

Fonts

Della graduazione de 'termometri a mercurio e della rettificazione de' barometri, 1765
De quibusdam maximis, & minimis: dissertatio statico-geometrica, 1766
Dissertazione sopra il quesito: essendo le pressioni dell'acqua stagnante in ragione delle altezze, 1769
Opuscula mathematica et physica, 1770
Dissertazione sopra il quesito rinvenire il fondamento, 1771
Specimen de seriebus convergentibus 1775
De casu irreductibili tertii gradus et seriebus infinitis, 1776
Saggi di statica e meccanica applicate alle arti, 1782
Principi di geografia astronomico-geometrica, 1789
Dissertation on the Summation of Infinite Converging Series with Algebraic Divisor, Exhibiting a Method Not Only Entirely New, But Much More General, 1779

literature

Ettore Curi: Lorgna, Antonio Maria. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 66: Lorenzetto – Macchetti. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2006.

Web links

John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson : Antonio Maria Lorgna. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
Lòrgna, Antonio Maria. In: Enciclopedie on line. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome. Retrieved April 12, 2017.

Individual evidence

↑ Maria is his middle name when he is baptized, he always wrote it to Mario in his books
^ List of members since 1666: Letter L. Académie des sciences, accessed on January 15, 2020 (French).
↑ It also contains a discussion of the statics of vaults, which Benvenuto, An introduction to the history of Structural Mechanics, Springer 1991, Volume 2, p. 404, regards as unsuccessful due to various errors. Lorgna tried to measure the forces experimentally in addition to the theoretical treatment (with the calculation of variations).

personal data
SURNAME	Lorgna, Antonio Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian engineer, officer and mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH	October 18, 1735
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cerea
DATE OF DEATH	June 28, 1796
Place of death	Verona

[1] Maria is his middle name when he is baptized, he always wrote it to Mario in his books

[2] List of members since 1666: Letter L. Académie des sciences, accessed on January 15, 2020 (French).

[3] It also contains a discussion of the statics of vaults, which Benvenuto, An introduction to the history of Structural Mechanics, Springer 1991, Volume 2, p. 404, regards as unsuccessful due to various errors. Lorgna tried to measure the forces experimentally in addition to the theoretical treatment (with the calculation of variations).