Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze

The Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze ( Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL) was founded in 1782 as Società Italiana and science academy for the whole of Italy in Verona.

Founder was the mathematician and hydraulic engineer Antonio Maria Lorgna (1735-1796) and the founding members were Alessandro Volta, Lazzaro Spallanzani, Ruggero Boscovich (and soon after Joseph -Louis Lagrange ). As the number of members was limited to 40 it was called Accademia dei XL or Accademia dei quaranta ( XL is the Latin term for 40). 1782 appeared the first volume of her memoirs ( Memorie, later Rendiconti ) divided since 1979 into a mathematical and a physical- scientific series.

They promote research in mathematics and science and history of science. The Academy is under the patronage of the President of the Italian Republic.

The headquarters of the Academy, in the respective presidents. Since 2007 is the headquarters of the Academy and its library on the grounds of Villa Torlonia in Rome.

The Academy comprises 40 regular members and beyond former regular members ( older than 70 years and at least 5 years regular member ) and 25 foreign members.

Among the foreign members included in the initial phase, and Carl Friedrich Gauss, Antoine Lavoisier, Pierre- Simon de Laplace, Georges- Louis Leclerc de Buffon, Joseph Priestley, Joseph Banks, William Herschel, Marie Jean Condorcet, Karl Wilhelm Scheele, Benjamin Franklin, Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers, Johann Elert Bode, Jérôme Lalande, Nevil Maskelyne, Humphry Davy, René -Just Haiiy, Jean -Baptiste Delambre, Peter Pallas and Franz Xaver Zach.

They awarded various awards such as the Matteucci Medal, the Medaglia dei XL per la Matematica, a medal for physics / science and Domenico Marotta Prize for Medicine.

At present (2013 ) are among the members, among others, Carlo Rubbia, Enrico Arbarello, Tullio Regge, Emilio Picasso, Ugo Amaldi, Enrico Bombieri, Orazio Svelto, Giorgio Parisi and Luciano Maiani.