Francesco Severi (13 April 1879 – 8 December 1961) was an Italian mathematician.
Severi was born in Arezzo, Italy. He is famous for his contributions to algebraic geometry and the theory of functions of several complex variables. He became the effective leader of the Italian school of algebraic geometry. Together with Federigo Enriques, he won the Bordin prize from the French Academy of Sciences.
He contributed in a major way to birational geometry, the theory of algebraic surfaces, in particular of the curves lying on them, the theory of moduli spaces and the theory of functions of several complex variables. He wrote prolifically, and some of his work has subsequently been shown to be not rigorous according to the then new standards set in particular by Oscar Zariski and David Mumford. At the personal level, according to Roth (1963) he was easily offended, and he was involved in a number of controversies. Most notably, he was a staunch supporter of the Italian fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and was included on a committee of academics that was to conduct an anti-semitic purge of all scholarly societies and academic institutions. He died in Rome of cancer.
All the mathematical works of Francesco Severi, except all books, are collected in the six volumes of his "Opere Matematiche".
Severi, Francesco (2 March 1931), "Sur une propriété fondamentale des fonctions analytiques de plusieurs variables", Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences (in French), 192: 596–599, Zbl 0001.14802 , available at Gallica. The paper containing the first proof of Morera's theorem for holomorphic functions of several variables.
Severi, Francesco (1931a), "Risoluzione del problema generale di Dirichlet per le funzioni biarmoniche" [Solution of the general Dirichlet problem for biharmonic functions], Rendiconti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali, series 6, (in Italian), 13: 795–804, JFM 57.0393.01, Zbl 0002.34202 . The announce of the solution of the Dirichlet problem for pluriharmonic functions for domains with real analytic boundaries.
Severi, Francesco (1932), "Una proprietà fondamentale dei campi di olomorfismo di una funzione analitica di una variabile reale e di una variabile complessa" [A fundamental property of the domain of holomorphy of an analytic function of one real variable and one complex variable], Rendiconti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali, series 6, (in Italian), 15: 487–490, JFM 58.0352.05, Zbl 0004.40702 . In this paper Severi describes the "passage from real to complex" method he developed in order to deal with several problems in the theory of functions of several complex variables.
Severi, Francesco (1942–1943), "A proposito d'un teorema di Hartogs" [About a theorem of Hartogs], Commentarii Mathematici Helvetici (in Italian), 15 (1): 350–352, MR 0010730, Zbl 0028.15301 . In this work Severi gives his proof of the Hartogs' extension theorem.
Severi, Francesco (1958), Lezioni sulle funzioni analitiche di più variabili complesse – Tenute nel 1956–57 all'Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica in Roma [Lectures on analytic functions of several complex variables – Lectured in 1956–57 at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica in Rome] (in Italian), Padova: CEDAM – Casa Editrice Dott. Antonio Milani, pp. XIV+255, Zbl 0094.28002 . Notes from a course held by Francesco Severi at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica (which at present bears his name), containing appendices of Enzo Martinelli, Giovanni Battista Rizza and Mario Benedicty.
Severi, Francesco (1971), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. I (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), pp. XLII+491, MR 0701703, Zbl 0582.01027 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume I collects works published from 1900 to 1908.
Severi, Francesco (1974), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. II (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 567, MR 0701702, Zbl 0582.01027 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume II collects works published from 1909 to 1917.
Severi, Francesco (1977), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. III (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 603, MR 0701700, Zbl 0582.01027 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume III collects works published from 1918 to 1932.
Severi, Francesco (1980), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. IV (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 603, MR 0701701, Zbl 0582.01027 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume IV collects works published from 1933 to 1941.
Severi, Francesco (1988), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. V (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 553, MR 1030994 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume V collects works published from 1942 to 1948.
Severi, Francesco (1989), Opere matematiche. Memorie e note Vol. VI (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (distributed by Bardi Editore), p. 499, MR 1030995 (available from the "Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana"). His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": the complete collection, with the exception of books, of Francesco Severi's scientific contributions. The reprinted works, written in Italian, French, German, retain their original language in an improved typographical form amended from typographical errors and author's oversights: also, a comment of Severi was added to several papers. Volume VI collects works published from 1949 to 1961.
Articles on Scientia
(in Italian) Ipotesi e realta nelle scienze geometriche, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 8, 1910, pp. 1–29
(in Italian) Esame delle obiezioni d'ordine generale contro la relatività del tempo, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 37, 1925, pp. 77–86
(in Italian) Elementi logici e psicologici dei principi di relatività, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 37, 1925, pp. 1–10
(in Italian) Materia e causalità, energia e indeterminazione, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 81, 1947, pp. 49–59
(in Italian) Leonardo e la matematica, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 88, 1953, pp. 41–44
(in Italian) I fondamenti logici della relatività, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 90, 1955, pp. 277–282
(in Italian) La matematica nella prima metà del secolo XX, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 92, 1957, pp. 20–26
(in French) Albert Einstein, L'ether et la theorie de la relativité, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 91, 1956, pp. 42–43
(in French) Eric Temple Bell, Les mathematiques reines et servantes des sciences, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 90, 1955, pp. 371–372
(in French) Nikolaus Von Cues, Die Mathematische Schriften, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 89, 1954, pp. 34–34
(in French) Ludovico Geymonat, Saggi di Filosofia neorazionalista, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 89, 1954, pp. 176–176
(in French) Norbert Wiener, Introduzione alla cibernetica, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 88, 1953, pp. 312–313
(in Italian) Eric Temple Bell, I grandi Matematici, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 86, 1951, pp. 183–184
(in Italian) Richard Courant e Herbert Robbins, Che cos'è la matematica?, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 86, 1951, pp. 278–279
(in French) Gottlob Frege, Aritmetica e Logica, Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 84, 1949, pp. 144–144
