Baldassarre Boncompagni

Baldassare Boncompagni Ludovisi ( born May 10, 1821 in Rome, † April 13, 1894 ) was an Italian historian of mathematics. Although he held no academic position, he is considered one of the leading historians of the 19th century mathematics.

Life and work

Boncompagni was wealthy from the house and it came from an old aristocratic family (he had the title of prince ), to which Pope Gregory XIII. , The initiator of the Gregorian calendar reform belonged. He attended the Collegio Romano in Rome, where he attended lectures in mathematics and physics at Barnaba Tortolini. In 1843 his first mathematical work in Crelle Journal. Then he turned to physics and mathematics history and has been nominated for his work in the newly established Pontifical Academy of Sciences - after the founding of Italy he declined the invitation to the newly founded as a rival Accademia dei Lincei. He was known especially for his work on the mathematics of the Middle Ages. In 1851 he published his book on Plato of Tivoli, a translator of the 12th century, and Gerard of Cremona. For the printing of the books that required unusual letters, he founded his own printing press in their palace in Rome, which is also, for example, published the reports of the Pontifical Academy. In particular, he devoted himself to the study of Fibonacci (Leonardo of Pisa), about whom he wrote a biography of 1852 and from which he published in 1854 some works with facsimiles. In the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, he discovered believed lost and unknown manuscripts of Fibonacci ( Liber Quadratorum, Flos ) and gave it, with additions by the Turin prosecutor Angelo Genocchi out ( Opus Coli di Leonardo Pisano, 2nd edition 1856). In 1857 he published the first printed version of the Liber Abaci of Fibonacci with comments from Pietro Cossali. 1862 followed the Practica Geometria. He also published other medieval texts, the first printed arithmetic book ( Aritmetica di Treviso, 1862 in the files of the Pontifical Academy ). In 1868 he founded the magazine " Bullet Tino di bibliografia e di storia delle scienze matematiche e fisiche " which he at his own expense - he sent free copies to many academies, libraries and scientists - printed until 1887 and published ( a reprint edition was published in 1968) with which he significantly contributed to the establishment of the history of mathematics as a science. She was eventually stopped because Boncompagni found no successor as editor - his favorite Antonio Favaro was engaged in the publication of the works of Galileo. Boncompagni was also an extensive private library of 600 manuscripts and 20,000 books together ( whose catalog was published by his secretary Narducci 1862 and 1892 ), which was scattered and auctioned after his death.