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Person: D'Ovidio, Enrico

Enrico D'Ovidio was an Italian mathematician and politician who worked in algebraic geometry.

Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):

• In Naples, Francesco studied at the Vittorio Emanuele Gymnasium while Enrico, having completed his secondary education, was considering enrolling for a law degree.
• He studied there for a time and attended lectures by Giuseppe Battaglini, Emanuele Fergola (1830-1915), Remigio Del Grosso (1813-1876) and Fortunato Padula (1816-1881), whose influence made D'Ovidio become interested in an academic career.
• D'Ovidio began school teaching at the Umberto High School in Naples and he also taught at the Naval School.
• In 1869 D'Ovidio, in collaboration with Achille Sannia, published a geometry text for schools.
• D'Ovidio was to work for 46 years in the University of Turin, retiring on 11 August 1918.
• D'Ovidio became a leading figure in Italian mathematics and, as a consequence, often served as a referee for appointing competitions.
• In 1890 D'Ovidio was a referee for a post at the Polytechnic of Turin.
• Guido Castelnuovo, who was at that time D'Ovidio's assistant, was appointed to the chair.
• Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry were the areas of special interest to D'Ovidio.
• D'Ovidio built on the geometric ideas which these mathematicians had been introduced.
• D'Ovidio also worked on binary forms, conics and quadrics.
• He published a number of important books: La proprietà fondamentale delle curve di secondo ordine studiate sulla equazione generale di secondo grado in coordinate cartesiane Ⓣ(The fundamental property of the second order curves on the general equation of the second degree in Cartesian coordinates) (first edition 1876, second edition 1883); Teoria analitica delle forme geometriche fondamentali Ⓣ(Analytical theory of fundamental geometric forms) (1885); Geometria analitica Ⓣ(Analytical geometry) (first edition 1885, fourth edition 1912); Il Io di Euclide esposto da E D'Ovidio Ⓣ(The first book of Euclid expounded by E D'Ovidio) (first edition 1887, third edition 1894); and Il libro IIo di Euclide esposto da E D'Ovidio Ⓣ(The second book of Euclid expounded by E D'Ovidio) (1889).
• D'Ovidio and Corrado Segre built an important school of geometry at Turin.
• For example, in 1888, in addition to D'Ovidio and Corrado Segre, the faculty in Turin included Giuseppe Basso, Giuseppe Erba, Angelo Genocchi, Nicodemo Jadanza, Giuseppe Peano, and Francesco Siacci.
• One of D'Ovidio's greatest achievements was his outstanding support for the students and assistants under his care.
• In addition to Giuseppe Peano, Corrado Segre, Filiberto Castellano (1860-1919) (who became his assistant in 1881), and Guido Castelnuovo (who was his assistant in 1888-91), we should mention Gino Fano (who was his assistant in 1892-93), Beppo Levi (who was his student 1892-96), and Gino Loria who earned his laurea in 1883 supervised by D'Ovidio and also was his assistant in 1884-86.
• When D'Ovidio retired in 1918, Italy had just gone through the trauma of World War I.
• To coincide with his retirement Scritti matematici offerti ad Enrico D'Ovidio Ⓣ(Mathematical writings offered to Enrico D'Ovidio) was published.
• On the occasion of the retirement of Professor d'Ovidio from the chair at Turin, at the age of 75 and after 46 years' service, the present volume is contributed by a distinguished company of nine former assistants, ten old students and one other friend of the veteran.
• The list contains many names well known to students of mathematics the world over, and bears witness to the great influence Professor D'Ovidio has had upon the growth of mathematics and upon the teaching of mathematics, not alone in Italy, but, mainly perhaps through his disciples, throughout the civilized world.
• Professor D'Ovidio's great influence has come about rather more through personal contact as a teacher than through published writings, and goes to show that there is such a thing as creative teaching as well as there is creative scholarship - a fact worth noting in a time when so much emphasis is placed upon the latter function and apparently so little is thought about the former.
• It must, indeed, be a source of great satisfaction to Professor D'Ovidio to have so distinct a proof of the esteem with which his many students, associates, and friends regard his long service and his personal qualifications as an inspiring teacher.
• Many honours came D'Ovidio's way.
• These were academic awards, but D'Ovidio also received a large number of honours from his country.
• D'Ovidio also had a career in parliament.

Born 11 August 1843, Campobasso, Molise, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (now Italy). Died 21 March 1933, Turin, Italy.

View full biography at MacTutor

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@J-J-O'Connor

@E-F-Robertson

References

Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:

1. O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive