The Rise and Fall of Vito Volterra's World

Abstract

From around the turn of the century until Benito Mussolini became dictator in 1925, mathematics was Italy's premier scientific discipline.1 A close-knit circle of mathematicians, in turn, dominated science in Italy. The circle, all university professors, included Guido Castelnuovo (1865-1952), Federigo Enriques (18711946), Tullio Levi-Civita (1873-1941), and Vito Volterra (1860-1940). All were Jewish. The group enjoyed a tradition, a sense of cohesiveness, and an international reputation. Their interests extended to different fields, in addition to mathematics. Enriques, along with his duties as a mathematician, wrote extensively on the philosophy and history of science, founded and co-edited the journal Scientia, and arranged for Einstein's celebrated trip to Italy after World War I. Levi-Civita's taste in mathematical problems ranged from the pure to the applied, with a special interest in the general theory of relativity. Castelnuovo, for his part, spent considerable time building up a school of mathematics at the University of Rome. Levi-Civita, originally at Padua, was called to Rome in 1918; Enriques followed from Bologna in 1923. By then, Rome had become a mecca for bright young mathematicians from abroad.2 Rome became the capital of the newly-created state of Italy in 1870. Under the leadership of Quintino Sella (1827-1884), a mathematician at the University of Turin who exchanged academic life for a ministerial post in the new government, Rome's scientific halls came to life again. With the help of the new Commissioner for Public Instruction, also a mathematician, Sella brought the cream of Italy's scientific faculty to Rome and transformed the capital's historic