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The Turin Academy of Sciences/Mathematical Society
Founded in 1783
The Turin Mathematical Society was founded in 1757 by a group of young scientists who were living in Turin, including Lagrange, Guiseppe Angelo Saluzzodi Menusiglio (Count Saluzzo) and the medical physician Giovanni Cigna. As with many such societies, one of the main reason to found the society was to provide support and infrastructure for publishing a journal. In this case they produced Miscellanea Taurinensio ou Mélanges de Turin which contained papers written in both French and Latin.
The first volume appeared at the beginning of the summer of 1759 and contained a paper by Lagrange on maxima and minima.
The second volume was published in the summer of 1762 and again included important contributions from Lagrange such as a work on the calculus of variations and another paper on the propagation of sound.
The third volume of the Mélanges de Turin, containing a paper by Lagrange on the integral calculus, appeared in 1766. By the time the fourth volume was published in the summer of 1773 Lagrange had left Turin but it contained four memoirs which he had sent from Berlin to be published in the Mélanges de Turin. The same volume contains Recherches sur le calcul intégral aux différences infiniment petites, et aux différences finies by Laplace showing that the journal had already gained a high reputation. This paper contained equations which Laplace stated were important in mechanics and physical astronomy.
In 1783 the Society expanded to become the Academy of Sciences of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and it remains one of the major Academies in Italy. Plana, who worked in Turin, was a major contributor to the Academy in the first half of the nineteenth century presenting his studies on lunar motion. The academy elected foreign members and Babbage, who visited Turin in 1840, was elected in 1841. Ohm was also elected as a corresponding member around this time.
The first volume appeared at the beginning of the summer of 1759 and contained a paper by Lagrange on maxima and minima.
The second volume was published in the summer of 1762 and again included important contributions from Lagrange such as a work on the calculus of variations and another paper on the propagation of sound.
The third volume of the Mélanges de Turin, containing a paper by Lagrange on the integral calculus, appeared in 1766. By the time the fourth volume was published in the summer of 1773 Lagrange had left Turin but it contained four memoirs which he had sent from Berlin to be published in the Mélanges de Turin. The same volume contains Recherches sur le calcul intégral aux différences infiniment petites, et aux différences finies by Laplace showing that the journal had already gained a high reputation. This paper contained equations which Laplace stated were important in mechanics and physical astronomy.
In 1783 the Society expanded to become the Academy of Sciences of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and it remains one of the major Academies in Italy. Plana, who worked in Turin, was a major contributor to the Academy in the first half of the nineteenth century presenting his studies on lunar motion. The academy elected foreign members and Babbage, who visited Turin in 1840, was elected in 1841. Ohm was also elected as a corresponding member around this time.
References (show)
- I duo primi secoli della Accademia delle Scienze di Torino (Italian), L'Accademia delle Scienze e il suo contributo allo sviluppo del pensiero e del progresso scientifico, Proceedings of a conference held in Turin, November 10-12, 1983, Atti Accad. Sci. Torino Cl. Sci. Fis. Mat. Natur. 121 (Turin, 1987).
- F Fava, The Academy's contribution to the development of geometry (Italian), in The first two centuries of the Turin Academy of Sciences (Italian), Turin, 1983, Atti Accad. Sci. Torino Cl. Sci. Fis. Mat. Natur. 121 (1987), 47-63.
- D Galletto, The Academy's contribution to the development of mathematical physics and physics in general. The first two centuries of the Turin Academy of Sciences (Italian), in The first two centuries of the Turin Academy of Sciences (Italian),Turin, 1983, Atti Accad. Sci. Torino Cl. Sci. Fis. Mat. Natur. 121 (1987), 77-92.
- T Viola, The Academy's contribution to the progress of mathematical analysis (Italian), in The first two centuries of the Turin Academy of Sciences (Italian), Turin, 1983, Atti Accad. Sci. Torino Cl. Sci. Fis. Mat. Natur. 121 (1987), 11-45.
Last Updated August 2004