Gaetano Fichera (mathematician)

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Gaetano Fichera

Gaetano Fichera (born February 8, 1922 in Acireale , † June 1, 1996 in Rome ) was an Italian mathematician who dealt with analysis.

Life

Fichera was the son of a math lecturer ( Giuseppe Fichera ). He studied at the University of Catania from 1937 to 1939 and then at the University of Rome , where he received the Laurea magna cum laude from Mauro Picone in 1941 . In 1943 he was in the army, was captured by German troops during the capitulation of Italy, but escaped and joined the partisans. In 1948 he completed his habilitation and in 1949, after a competition, he became professor of analysis at the University of Trieste . In 1956 he went to Rome to succeed his teacher Mauro Picone. Later he was at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica in Rome. In 1992 he officially retired, but remained mathematically active.

He dealt with analysis (calculus of variations, functional analysis, approximation theory, partial differential equations, potential theory, measure and integration theory, function theory of one and more variables, numerical analysis, differential forms) and their applications, for example in elasticity theory (he wrote two articles on mathematical elasticity theory in 1972 in the handbook of physics published by Siegfried Flügge at Springer). In 1963 he introduced (as a solution to Antonio Signorini's problem in elasticity theory) variational inequalities, which were soon developed by Guido Stampacchia .

He also dealt with the history of mathematics specifically in 19th century Italy. His wife wrote a biography which she self-published in Rome in 2006.

He was a member of the Accademia dei Lincei , the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze , the Russian Academy of Sciences , the Royal Society of Edinburgh and, since 1973, the Leopoldina . In 1976 he received the Feltrinelli Prize . In 1970 he was invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Nice (Unilateral constraints in elasticity).

The Premio Gætano Fichera of the Unione Matematica Italiana is named after him, and is awarded every four years for an outstanding publication on analysis. Award winners have been:

Fonts

  • Opere scelte , 3 volumes, Edizioni Cremonese 2004 (Selected Works)
  • Linear elliptic differential systems and eigenvalue problems , Springer 1965
  • with Mauro Picone Trattato di analisi matematica , Rome 1954
  • Numerical and quantitative analysis , Pitman 1978
  • Boundary value problems of elasticity with unilateral constraints , and Existence theorems in elasticity , in Siegfried Flügge, Clifford Truesdell (editor) Encyclopedia of Physics / Handbuch der Physik , Volume VIa / 2, Festkörpermechanik II / Mechanics of Solids II , Springer Verlag 1972
  • Vito Volterra and the birth of Functional Analysis , in Jean-Paul Pier Development of mathematics 1900-1950 , Birkhäuser 1994

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fichera Sul problema elastostatico di Signorini con ambigue condizioni al contorno , Rendiconti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Vol. 34, 1969, p. 138, Fichera Problemi elastostatici con vincoli unilaterali: il problema di Signorini con ambigue condizioni al contorno , Memorie Nazionale dei Lincei, Volume 7, 1963, pp. 91-140, Fichera Elastostatic problems with unilateral constraints: the Signorini problem with ambiguous boundary conditions , Seminari dell'istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica 1962-1963, Rome, Edizioni Cremonese, 1964, p 613-679. Fichera on the story: La nascita della teoria delle diseguaglianze variazionali ricordata dopo trent'anni , Incontro scientifico italo-spagnolo. Roma, 21 ottobre 1993, Atti dei Convegni Lincei, Volume 114, 1995, Rome, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, pp. 47-53
personal data
SURNAME Fichera, Gaetano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Acireale
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1996
Place of death Rome