Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja
Count Guglielmo ( Brutus Icilius Time Leone) Libri ( Carucci dalla Sommaja ) ( born January 1, 1803 in Florence, † September 28, 1869 in Fiesole, Italy) was an Italian- French mathematician and bibliophile, who became known for his enormous books thefts celebrity.
Life
Youth
Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja came from one of the oldest noble Florentine families. In 1816 he began studying law at the University of Pisa, but soon switched to mathematics and the natural sciences. In the year of his graduation, 1820, he published his first work, " Memoria di Guglielmo Libri sopra la teoria dei numeri " ( Guglielmo Libris memorandum on the number theory ), which was applauded by leading mathematicians such as Babbage, Cauchy and Gauss.
In 1823 he was appointed in Pisa professor of mathematical physics, but soon realized that he still possessed special aptitude for academic teaching no great aptitude. He succeeded already in the following year to take leave while continuing to pay his salary due to illness; by the Duke of Tuscany, he was appointed Professor Emeritus. Libri traveled to Paris, where he made the acquaintance of the famous French mathematician of his time as Laplace, Poisson, Fourier, Ampère and Arago. In 1825 he returned to Italy. Here he joined the secret society the " Carbonari " that fought for a liberal constitution in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
Career in France
In order to escape the threat because of his political activity tracking, Libri had to flee in 1830 to France, where he was supported by fellow scientists. He took part in the July Revolution that brought the " citizen king " Louis Philippe to power, which gave him even political influence in the result. François Arago initially caused the almost destitute emigrants. Libri 1833 became a French citizen and received through the intercession Arago a teaching position at the Collège de France. Arago, the permanent secretary of the Académie des sciences, was undoubtedly also had part in making Libri was elected to succeed Legendre in the Academy in the same year. In December 1834 he was appointed lecturer in probability theory at the science faculty of the Sorbonne, 1839 appointed just there as a full professor of mathematics and in 1843 he received ( against the competition of Cauchy and Jean -Marie Duhamel ) the chair of mathematics at the Collège de France, a position he held until 1845. In addition, the Legion of Honour, he was awarded. Since 1838 he was also on the editorial board of the Journal des Savants. Through his rapid career, his ambition and his sometimes perceived as arrogant demeanor, he made a number of mathematicians to enemies, which also helped that he was not a native of France. Already in 1835 had broken his friendship with Arago for unknown reasons. A particularly fierce opposition Libri joined with Joseph Liouville, with whom he regularly delivered heated arguments during the meetings of the Academy. His opponents questioned the originality of his work and criticized the cumbersome and inelegant proof.
Perhaps these scientific controversies contributed to the fact that Libri shifted his main area of work on the history of mathematics. In addition to smaller fonts to mathematical physics, in particular for the theory of heat, and of the number theory and the theory of equations, he created during this period his main scientific work, " Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques en Italie, depuis la Renaissance des lettres jusqu'à la fin du dix- septième siècle " ( history of the mathematical sciences in Italy from the Renaissance to the end of the 17th century ), which was published in four volumes from 1838 to 1841 (1989 reprint ). Two further volumes were planned, but were never completed. Although Libri tends to exaggerate the achievements of the Italian mathematician at the expense of mathematicians in other countries, the work is by Libris knowledge and secluded facts very informative, not least because it is based on a thorough study of the original sources. Among other things, he studied for his book the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci and printed in Annexes some of these manuscripts from the first time. Libri developed into a passionate book and autograph collector, so that he could finally be based on about 1800 manuscripts, letters and books, including Fermat, Galileo, Descartes, Mersenne and Leibniz himself. Among them were numerous manuscripts that were thought lost until then. Although Libri claimed to have everything purchased legally, it turned out later that some of the books from the Laurentian Library in Florence had been stolen.
Based on the knowledge gained through his historical work and collecting activities expanded book historical knowledge, but above all thanks to his friendship with the influential politician François Guizot Libri 1841 Secretary of the Commission for the overall manuscript catalog of public libraries in France ( Commission du Catalogue général des manuscrits of bibliothèques publiques de France ). During the French Revolution, the confiscated books from the collection of " aristocrats " is passed to the public libraries had been ordered by the Welfare Committee. 50 years later, these collections were still not systematically inventoried and cataloged. To Libris tasks, visit libraries throughout France and to sift through their book and manuscript holdings belonged. He used this activity for long books and manuscript thefts. His official position gave him free and unsupervised access to all public libraries and offered him such ample opportunity to bring undisturbed precious books and manuscripts in his possession. Among the affected especially true libraries belonged to the city library in Orléans, who lost in 1842 by Libri valuable manuscripts from the former existence of the Abbey Fleury. Through his thefts Libri finally brought a huge collection of enormous value together. In 1847 he owned about 40,000 books and manuscripts. Parts of his collection he sold for large sums; to the Earl of Ashburnham, a British collector, he sold 1847 2.200 volumes of manuscripts for 200,000 francs, more book sales in the same year led to more than 100,000 francs ( the daily wage of a worker at the time was about four francs ).
1846 fell by an anonymous display first suspected Libri. The investigation of the police, however, were carried out very discreetly because Libris prominent position and came to nothing. Only after a new display in July 1847, the police found out, among other things, that an edition of Aldus Manutius Theocritus of 1495, the Libri had sold in August 1847 had disappeared from the library of Carpentras. Even now, only a report to the Minister of Justice was created from political considerations first, then submitted to the Prime Minister - Libris friend and supporter of Guizot. It was not until the February Revolution in 1848, which led to the fall of Guizot, Libri brought in immediate danger. However, he was warned in time by a journalist friend and withdrew from the threat of arrest and prosecution by fleeing to England. Previously, he managed yet to ensure that its most valuable books and manuscripts arrived in 18 large boxes out of the country. As they should be seized in Le Havre, they already were to ship on the way to England.
Stay in England
In London Libri pretended to be a political refugee and was, among others, Antonio Panizzi, the Director of the Library of the British Museum, supported, with whom he was well known from previous book sales ago. Panizzi, even Italian origin gave as well as large sections of the British public Libris allegations belief, the allegations against him were unfounded and that he had been discriminated against and persecuted in France because of its Italian origin and his praise of Italian mathematics. By Panizzi mediation, Libri befriended the eccentric mathematician Augustus De Morgan, who became his most vehement defenders and has authored numerous articles in favor Libris. Libri also showed himself publicly the allegations made against him back ( Réponse au rapport de M. Boucly, 1849).
In the criminal trial, which opened in the spring of 1850 in the absence against Libri before the Paris Court of Appeal, however, was the theft of many valuable books and manuscripts from the Bibliothèque Mazarine and the library and the archives of the Institut de France in Paris and the libraries in Troyes, Montpellier, Grenoble and Carpentras convincingly demonstrated. On June 22, 1850 Libri was convicted of theft and sentenced to ten years in prison. Libris friend, the archaeologist and writer Prosper Mérimée, inspector general of historical monuments, the public took for him party was, therefore, also put on trial and received 15 days in prison and 1,000 francs fine. Libri also lost his membership in the French Academy of Sciences. But he had still friends and defenders in France, Italy and England. 1861 tried the French Minister of Justice, to rehabilitate him, which was rejected by the French Senate.
Although Libri had come with nothing but his books and manuscripts to England, he lived in easy circumstances, and led a busy social life. His income came from the sale of books and manuscripts. So he organized in 1861 two large auctions; Catalog for created by him include 7628 numbers. Overall, Libri said to have taken by its sales over a million francs. Libris auctions gave a major impetus for establishing scientific books as collectibles.
As his health deteriorated in 1868, Libri returned from England to Italy and moved into a villa in Fiesole ( Tuscany), where he died on 28 September 1869.
Approximately 2,000 manuscripts that Libri had stolen in Italy and sold in London were bought back in 1884 by the Italian Government and are back in the Laurentian Library. Léopold Delisle, director of the Bibliothèque Nationale, could prove beyond doubt that the manuscripts in 1847 sold to Lord Ashburnham had been stolen from French libraries. After protracted negotiations, the French and British governments succeeded in 1888 to retrieve the most of the valuable manuscripts to France.
Writings
- Memoria di Guglielmo Libri sopra la teoria dei numeri (1820 )
- Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques en Italie, depuis la rénaissanace des lettres jusqu'à la fin du dix- septième siècle (1838-1841)
- Essai sur la vie et les travaux de Galilée (1841 )
- Catalogue of the Mathematical, Historical, Bibliographical and Miscellaneous portion of the Celebrated Library of Guglielmo Libri M (1861 )