Lodovico Ferrari

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Lodovico Ferrari ( February 2, 1522 in Bologna - October 5, 1565 in Bologna ) was an Italian mathematician . He was a professor of mathematics in Milan and Bologna.

Life

Ferrari's family originally came from Milan. His grandfather Bartholomaeus had fled to Bologna from Milan. Ferrari's parents died very young, and Ludovico Ferrari was taken into Gerolamo Cardano 's household as a son in 1536 at the age of 14 as a destitute orphan . Ferrari, who had received no formal schooling, was tutored in Latin, Greek, and math by Cardano, according to his own description. He found the solution of the fourth-degree equations under the guidance of Cardano . Cardano published this solution along with his solution to cubic equations in his work Ars magna de Regulis Algebraicis in 1545 .

Ferrari then had a heated argument with the arithmetic master Tartaglia on behalf of Cardano , who was the first to find the solution for quadratic and cubic equations. The dispute led to a public discussion on August 10, 1548 about the equations between the two opponents. Since Tartaglia himself was hopelessly inferior to Cardano's student Ferrari, he fled Milan the following night.

Ferrari subsequently gave public lectures on mathematics in Milan and from 1548 to 1556 entered the service of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga of Mantua .

In 1564 he became professor of mathematics in Bologna, probably at the instigation of Cardano, who held a professorship in medicine there from 1563.

honors

The asteroid (21331) Lodovicoferrari was named after him.

literature

  • Gabriella Belloni Speciale:  Ferrari, Ludovico. In: Fiorella Bartocini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 46:  Feducci-Ferrerio. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1996.
  • Hieronymus Cardano: Vita Ludovici Ferrarii Bononiensis. In: Hieronymi Cardani: Opera omnia. Volume 9. Lyon 1663, pp. 568f.
  • Arnaldo Masotti (ed.): Cartelli di sfida matematica. Brescia 1974.

web links

personal data
SURNAME Ferrari, Lodovico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian mathematician
BIRTH DATE February 2, 1522
PLACE OF BIRTH Bologna , Italy
DATE OF DEATH October 5, 1565
PLACE OF DEATH Bologna , Italy