Francesco Severi
Encyclopedia
Francesco Severi was an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

.

Severi was born in Arezzo
Arezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. He is famous for his contributions to algebraic geometry
Algebraic geometry
Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which combines techniques of abstract algebra, especially commutative algebra, with the language and the problems of geometry. It occupies a central place in modern mathematics and has multiple conceptual connections with such diverse fields as complex...

 and the theory of functions of several complex variables
Several complex variables
The theory of functions of several complex variables is the branch of mathematics dealing with functionson the space Cn of n-tuples of complex numbers...

. He became the effective leader of the Italian school of algebraic geometry
Italian school of algebraic geometry
In relation with the history of mathematics, the Italian school of algebraic geometry refers to the work over half a century or more done internationally in birational geometry, particularly on algebraic surfaces. There were in the region of 30 to 40 leading mathematicians who made major...

. Together with Federigo Enriques
Federigo Enriques
Federigo Enriques was an Italian mathematician, now known principally as the first to give a classification of algebraic surfaces in birational geometry, and other contributions in algebraic geometry....

, he won the Bordin prize from the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...

.

He contributed in a major way to birational geometry
Birational geometry
In mathematics, birational geometry is a part of the subject of algebraic geometry, that deals with the geometry of an algebraic variety that is dependent only on its function field. In the case of dimension two, the birational geometry of algebraic surfaces was largely worked out by the Italian...

, the theory of algebraic surface
Algebraic surface
In mathematics, an algebraic surface is an algebraic variety of dimension two. In the case of geometry over the field of complex numbers, an algebraic surface has complex dimension two and so of dimension four as a smooth manifold.The theory of algebraic surfaces is much more complicated than that...

s, in particular of the curves lying on them, the theory of moduli space
Moduli space
In algebraic geometry, a moduli space is a geometric space whose points represent algebro-geometric objects of some fixed kind, or isomorphism classes of such objects...

s and the theory of functions of several complex variables
Several complex variables
The theory of functions of several complex variables is the branch of mathematics dealing with functionson the space Cn of n-tuples of complex numbers...

. 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
Oscar Zariski
Oscar Zariski was a Russian mathematician and one of the most influential algebraic geometers of the 20th century.-Education:...

 and David Mumford
David Mumford
David Bryant Mumford is an American mathematician known for distinguished work in algebraic geometry, and then for research into vision and pattern theory. He won the Fields Medal and was a MacArthur Fellow. In 2010 he was awarded the National Medal of Science...

. At the personal level, according to he was easily offended, and he was involved in a number of controversies. He died in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

.

See also

  • Italian school of algebraic geometry
    Italian school of algebraic geometry
    In relation with the history of mathematics, the Italian school of algebraic geometry refers to the work over half a century or more done internationally in birational geometry, particularly on algebraic surfaces. There were in the region of 30 to 40 leading mathematicians who made major...

  • Morera's theorem
    Morera's theorem
    In complex analysis, a branch of mathematics, Morera's theorem, named after Giacinto Morera, gives an important criterion for proving that a function is holomorphic....

  • Néron–Severi group
    Néron–Severi group
    In algebraic geometry, the Néron–Severi group of a variety isthe group of divisors modulo algebraic equivalence; in other words it is the group of components of the Picard scheme of a variety. Its rank is called the Picard number...

  • Several complex variables
    Several complex variables
    The theory of functions of several complex variables is the branch of mathematics dealing with functionson the space Cn of n-tuples of complex numbers...

  • Severi–Brauer variety

External links

: a very short biography of Severi, with a complete bibliography of his works, available at the "Geometria algebrica italiana (Italian algebraic geometry)" web site. Contains also 12 further references.: a short résumé
Résumé
A résumé is a document used by individuals to present their background and skillsets. Résumés can be used for a variety of reasons but most often to secure new employment. A typical résumé contains a summary of relevant job experience and education...

 of his life available at the "Societa Italiana di Storia delle Matematiche".. Available from the Edizione Nazionale Mathematica Italiana.. The web site of the institute Francesco Severi founded..
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