Person: Faedo, Alessandro
Alessandro Faedo was an Italian mathematician and politician who worked in numerical analysis.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- It had become an institute of higher education linked to the University of Pisa in 1932 while Faedo was studying there.
- Enriques' choice fell on Faedo, who moved to Rome in March 1937 after overcoming certain perplexities associated with the relocation and to the discipline itself (geometry) in which he had not earned a degree.
- Faedo had established a collaboration with Enriques and was able to keep him informed about events in the Mathematical Institute which Enriques was barred from entering.
- However, suddenly Faedo had no assistant position in Rome and he had to look for an alternative post.
- Faedo helped him with the small issues related to a new residence and their relations became less "professional".
- In Rome Faedo developed relationships with Severi and Picone but ...
- These problems were due to the fact that Tonelli's relations with the others at Rome was not that good, particularly his relations with Severi, and this made difficulties for Faedo as his assistant.
- Faedo attended the Second Congress of the Italian Mathematical Union in Bologna in April 1940.
- Faedo published several papers in 1940-41 on a variety of different topics: Il principio di Zermelo per gli spazi astratti Ⓣ(The principle of Zermelo for abstract spaces) (1940), Sulle trasformate multiple di Laplace (1941); Contributo alla sistemazione teorica del metodo variazionale per l'analisi dei problemi di propagazione Ⓣ(Contribution to the theoretical system of the variational method for the analysis of propagation problems) (1941), Su gli insiemi chiusi di misura nulla Ⓣ(On closed sets of measure zero) (1941), and Il principio di Zermelo per lo spazio delle funzioni continue Ⓣ(The principle of Zermelo for the space of continuous functions) (1941).
- In 1941 Faedo became a docent in Rome but, by this time, Italy was taking part in World War II.
- Tonelli died in March 1946 and Faedo entered the competition to fill the vacant chair.
- From the mid-1960s onward, Faedo essentially ceased his research activities to dedicate all his time and energy to his work as a manager and organizer.
- Before looking at Faedo's contributions as a 'manager and organiser' we should say more about Faedo's mathematical contributions.
- Let us return to our discussion of Faedo's other achievements.
- This aspect of Faedo's contributions are important and we describe in more detail how this came about.
- Towards the end of 1954, the rector asked Faedo to set up a team to look into building a computer.
- The Centro Studi Calcolatrici Elettroniche was set up and Faedo's team, which included physicists and electrical engineers, designed and built the Calcolatrice Elettronica Pisana.
- Faedo served on the steering committee of the Centro Studi Calcolatrici Elettroniche from 1954 to 1958.
- Realising that the United States had become the world leader in computer technology, Faedo visited the United States in the early 1960s to learn more about the most recent developments.
- In 1964 Faedo founded the National University Computing Centre as a part of the Italian National Research Council.
- Despite many recognising the significance of computing developments, other colleagues of Faedo's did not see this as more than a passing phase of little or no academic significance.
- The Italian National Research Council saw Faedo's abilities and achievements at Pisa and elected him as their president, a role in which he served from 1972 to 1976.
- Faedo played a leading role in the successful launch of this satellite for research into the use of new very short wavebands for telecommunications.
- In 1976 Faedo's term as president of the Italian National Research Council came to an end.
- One might have though that after this period of intense organising and administration, Faedo might have looked for a quieter time.
- Faedo was elected to membership in many scientific academies.
- Among many other honours given to Faedo we mention: the Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana and his being made an Officier de la Légion d'Honneur.
- The Institute of Information Science and Technologies was constituted in September 2000 and named after Faedo.
- All mathematicians of the highest level, who were often enticed by offers from prestigious foreign universities, it was Faedo who "chased and hunted" them with obstinacy, sometimes having to overcome tough resistance or overcome bureaucratic obstacles.
- It is natural that they look to Sandro Faedo with affection and gratitude.
Born 18 November 1913, Chiampo, Vicenza, Italy. Died 16 June 2001, Pisa, Italy.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Italy
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
