12 Facts About Vito Volterra

Abramo Volterra died in 1862 when Vito was two years old.

Vito Volterra showed early promise in mathematics before attending the University of Pisa, where he fell under the influence of Enrico Betti, and where he became professor of rational mechanics in 1883.

Vito Volterra immediately started work developing his theory of functionals which led to his interest and later contributions in integral and integro-differential equations.

Vito Volterra's work is summarised in his book Theory of functionals and of Integral and Integro-Differential Equations.

Vito Volterra had grown up during the final stages of the Risorgimento when the Papal States were finally annexed by Italy and, like his mentor Betti, he was an enthusiastic patriot, being named by the king Victor Emmanuel III as a senator of the Kingdom of Italy in 1905.

Vito Volterra originated the idea of using inert helium rather than flammable hydrogen and made use of his leadership abilities in organising its manufacture.

Vito Volterra is the only person who was a plenary speaker in the International Congress of Mathematicians four times.

Vito Volterra was an International Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

However, Vito Volterra was no radical firebrand; he might have been equally appalled if the leftist opposition to Mussolini had come to power since he was a lifelong royalist and nationalist.

Vito Volterra had a daughter, Luisa Vito Volterra, who married the biologist Umberto D'Ancona.

D'Ancona piqued his father-in-law's interest in biomathematics when he showed Vito Volterra a set of data regarding populations of different species of fish in the Adriatic Sea, where decreased fishing activity from the war had led to an increase in the populations of predatory fish species.

Vito Volterra published an analysis of the dynamics of interacting species of fish the next year.