Giuseppe Peano

Giuseppe Peano (1858 - 1932) was an Italian mathematician.

Giuseppe Peano was born on August 27, 1858 atfarm nearvillageSpinettanortheastern Italy.

In 1876 he enrolled atUniversityTurin insame regionItaly.

He graduated1880'High Honours'began his teaching career. Peano wasUniversity assistant between 18801882. FirstEnrico D'OvidiothenAngelo Genocchi (the chairInfinitesimal Calculus). In 1881 Peano published his first paper. Incoursehis life, Peano had over two hundred papersbooks published (mostthem on mathematics).

By 1882, dueGenocchi's ill health, Peano wascharge ofInfinitesimal Calculus course wherestudents made funhim becausean inabilitypronounceletter 'r'.

His first major worktext book on calculus, creditedGenocchi, was published1884. OnJuly 27, 1887 he married Carola Crosio. The following year Peano's father died. Peano also published his first book dealingmathematical logic. This book first usessymbolsUnionIntersectionsets asnow used today.

In 1889 Peanoappointed 'Professor first class' atRoyal Military AcademyTurin where he also teaches. Peano's famous space-filling curve appears inpublicationhis ascounter-example1890. He used itshow thatcontinuous curve cannot always be enclosedan arbitrarily small region. Insame year healso appointed 'Extraordinary ProfessorInfinitesimal Calculus' at Turin University.

The following year he becomesmember'The AcademyScience'Turin. This year (1891) sees Peano begin his ambitious taskcreating an 'Encyclopediamathematics'. Known as'Formulario Project'wasbecollectionall known formulastheoremsmathematical science usingstandard notation invented by Peano.

In 1895 hepromoted'Ordinary Professor' at Turin University.

The First International ConferenceMathematicsheld Zürich 1897 where Peano iskey participant, presentingpaper on mathematical logic. At this time Peano startsbecome increasingly occupied'Formulario' todetrimenthis other work.

In 1898 he presentsnote to'Academy' about binary numeration its abilitybe usedrepresentsoundslanguages. He also becomes so frustratedpublishing delays (duehis demand that formulas be printed on one line) that he purchasesprinting press.

Paris isvenue forSecond International ConferenceMathematics1900. The conferencepreceded byFirst International ConferencePhilosophy where Peano ismember ofPatronage Committee. He presentspaper which posesquestioncorrectly formed definitionsmathematics (ie How do you definedefinition?). This becomes onePeano's main philosophical interests forresthis life. Peano meets Bertrand Russellgives himcopy'Formulario'. Russellso struck by Peano's innovative logical symbols that he leavesconferencehome where he studies Peano's text. Peano's followers present papers (using Peano's teachings) atmathematics conference but Peano does not. A resolutionraised onformationan International Auxiliary Language that will makespreadnew mathematical (and commercial) ideas easier. Peanoin full support.

By 1901 Peanoatpeakhis mathematical career. He has made advances inareasanalysis, foundationlogic. Peano has made many contributions toteachingcalculus. He also contributed tofieldsdifferential equations vector analysis. Peano playedkey role inaxiomatizationmathematicswasleading pioneer indevelopmentmathematical logic. In recognitionthis Peanomade"Knight ofOrderSaints MaurizioLazzaro". Peano has by this stage become heavily involved with'Formulario' projecthis teaching beginssuffer. In fact he becomes so determinedteach his new mathematical symbols thatcalculushis courseneglected. Asresult hedismissed fromRoyal Military Academy but retains his post at Turin University.

1903 sees Peano announce his work on an international auxiliary language called "Latino sine flexione" (Latin without flexions). This now becomes an important project (alongfinding contributants'Formulario').

In 1905 Peanomade"Knight ofCrownItaly"is also electedCorresponding Member of"Accademia dei Lincei"Rome,highest honouran Italian scientist (Galileo was alsomemberhis time).

1908 isyearwhichfinal (5th) edition'Formulario Project', titled "Formulario Mathematico",published. It contains 4200 formulastheorems, all completely statedmostthem proved. The book received little usemost ofcontent was dated by this time. The commentsexamples were written"Latino sine flexions" which put most mathematicians off usingbook. However,was (is)significant piecemathematical literature. Alsothis year Peano takes overChairHigher Analysis at Turin. This lastsonly two years.

In 1910, Peano's mother dies.

Fornext twenty-four years, Peano divides (not equally however) his energies between developingpromoting hisother artificial languages (he becamerevered member ofinternational auxiliary language movement), teaching,working on texts aimedsecondary schooling (includingdictionarymathematics). He used his membership ofAccademia dei Linceipresent papers written by friendscolleagues who were not members (the Accademia recordedpublished all presented papers givensessions).

He was further honoured bygovernment1917, when he was made an "Officer ofCrownItaly',again1921promotion"Commendatore ofCrownItaly".

In 1925 Peano swapped Chairs (unofficially) from Infinitesimal CalculusComplementary Mathematics,field which better suited his current stylemathematics. This move became official1931.

Giuseppe Peano continued teaching at Turin University untilday before he died, on April 20, 1932, aged 73.

"He [Peano] wasman I greatly admired frommoment I met him forfirst time1900 atCongressPhilosophy, which he dominated byexactnesshis mind."
Bertrand Russell 1932

Reference: "Peano: LifeWorksGiuseppe Peano" Hubert C. Kennedy