Leonida Tonelli (19 April 1885 – 12 March 1946) was an Italian mathematician, noted for proving Tonelli's theorem, a variation of Fubini's theorem, and for introducing semicontinuity methods as a common tool for the direct method in the calculus of variations.[1]
Leonida Tonelli | |
---|---|
Born | Gallipoli, Apulia, Italy | 19 April 1885
Died | 12 March 1946 Pisa, Italy | (aged 60)
Nationality | Italian |
Alma mater | University of Bologna |
Known for | Tonelli's theorem Tonelli's theorem (functional analysis) Tonelli–Hobson test |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Institutions | University of Cagliari University of Parma University of Bologna University of Pisa Scuola Normale Superiore |
Doctoral advisor | Cesare Arzelà |
Doctoral students | Emilio Baiada Paolo Budinich Lamberto Cesari Guido Stampacchia |
Tonelli graduated from the University of Bologna in 1907; his Ph.D. thesis was written under the direction of Cesare Arzelà.[2]
He is one of the founders of Modern Theory of Functions of Real Variables and his work on the Calculus of Variations is a milestone in analysis.[3]
— Olga Arsenievna Oleinik, (Oleinik 1986, p. 28)
The present writer's father, W. H. Young, used to recall that this very question — what principle can we use as the foundation of the calculus of variations[4] — had been put him by a young Italian mathematician. His reply was a question: "Can you use semicontinuity?" The young Italian was Leonida Tonelli. Semicontinuity was then still a recent concept, known only to a few. In the hands of Tonelli, it became an important tool in a fundamental new approach to the calculus of variations.
— Laurence Chisholm Young, (Young 1969, p. 153)
{{citation}}
: External link in |publisher=
(help). This paper, included in the Proceedings of the Study Meeting in Memory of Giuseppe Gemignani, is an account of the failures of Vito Volterra, Leonida Tonelli and Francesco Severi, when dealing with particular research problems during their career. An English translation of the title reads as:-"Three battles lost by three great Italian mathematicians".