Antonio Maria Lorgna

Antonio Maria Lorgna (1735-1796) or Antonio Mario Lorgna (as he signed his works) was a mathematician from Italy in the 18th century, founder of the Accademia nazionale delle scienze.

Antonio Maria Lorgna
Painting by Pietro Rotari (1707-1762)
Born(1735-10-18)18 October 1735
Cerea, Venetian Republic, now Italy
Died28 June 1796(1796-06-28) (aged 60)
Verona, Venetian Republic, now Italy
Alma materUniversity of Padua
Known forFounder of the Accademia nazionale delle scienze
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
Engineering

Life and work
Opuscula mathematica et physica, 1770

Little is known about the first twenty years of Lorgna's life. He was the son of a cavalry officer of the Venetian army and in 1757 he was in Dalmatia probably following his father in his military duties (Dalmatia was at this time under Venetian rule). The general governor of Dalmatia, Alvise Contarini, knowing his abilities and versatility, appointed him as his secretary and interpreter.

Returned to Venice in 1759, Lorgna became a student at the University of Padua; he didn't graduate, but learned physics, astronomy and mathematics under Giovanni Poleni and Giovanni Alberto Colombo.[1] In 1762 he enrolled in the Venetian army and went to Croatia for some time, then was appointed professor of mathematics in the military academy for engineers in Castelvecchio in Verona.[2] Lorgna worked at the Military College of Castelvecchio for the rest of his career, teaching courses on trigonometry, mechanics, statics for construction, ballistics and hydraulics. From 1784 he was also the general governor of the college, attaining the military rank of Brigadier.

Lorgna never married. He died while the French army was occupying Verona.[3] He is best known as the founder in 1782 of the Societá Italiana delle Scienze detta dei XL, now the Accademia nazionale delle scienze, a leading research Italian institution.[4]

Works

Of 80 works, the following are major ones:[5]

References
  1. O'Connor & Robertson, MacTutor History of Mathematics.
  2. Cerruti, pag 127.
  3. Curi, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Vol. 66.
  4. Pepe, pàgina 13.
  5. O'Connor & Robertson, MacTutor History of Mathematics.

Bibliography
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