Francesco Severi

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Francesco Severi bigraphy, stories - Italian mathematician

Francesco Severi : biography

13 April 1879 – 8 December 1961

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 he was easily offended, and he was involved in a number of controversies. He died in Rome of cancer.

Selected publications

  • , available at Gallica. The paper containing the first proof of Morera’s theorem for holomorphic functions of several variables.
  • . The announce of the solution of the Dirichlet problem for pluriharmonic functions for domains with real analytic boundaries. The English translation of the title reads as:-"Solution of the general Dirichlet problem for biharmonic functions".
  • . The English translation of the title reads as:-"A fundamental property of the domain of holomorphy of an analytic function of one real variable and one complex variable". 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.
  • , available at the . The English translation of the title reads as:-"About a theorem of Hartogs". In this work Severi gives his proof of the Hartogs’ extension theorem.
  • . 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. An English translation of the title reads as:-"Lectures on analytic functions of several complex variables – Lectured in 1956–57 at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica in Rome".
  • .His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": a collection of Francesco Severi’s main scientific contribution with the exception of his published books, in a revised typographical form, both amending typographical errors and author’s oversights and also adding the author’s remarks to some papers. Volume I collects works published from 1900 to 1908.
  • . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": a collection of Francesco Severi’s main scientific contribution with the exception of his published books, in a revised typographical form, both amending typographical errors and author’s oversights and also adding the author’s remarks to some papers. Volume II collects works published from 1909 to 1917.
  • . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": a collection of Francesco Severi’s main scientific contribution with the exception of his published books, in a revised typographical form, both amending typographical errors and author’s oversights and also adding the author’s remarks to some papers. Volume III collects works published from 1918 to 1932.
  • . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": a collection of Francesco Severi’s main scientific contribution with the exception of his published books, in a revised typographical form, both amending typographical errors and author’s oversights and also adding the author’s remarks to some papers. Volume IV collects works published from 1933 to 1941.
  • . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": a collection of Francesco Severi’s main scientific contribution with the exception of his published books, in a revised typographical form, both amending typographical errors and author’s oversights and also adding the author’s remarks to some papers. Volume V collects works published from 1942 to 1948.
  • . His "Mathematical works, Memoirs and Notes": a collection of Francesco Severi’s main scientific contribution with the exception of his published books, in a revised typographical form, both amending typographical errors and author’s oversights and also adding the author’s remarks to some papers. Volume VI collects works published from 1949 to 1961.