Federigo EnriquesAbramo Giulio Umberto Federigo Enriques (5 January 1871 – 14 June 1946) was an Italian mathematician, now known principally as the first to give a classification of algebraic surfaces in birational geometry, and other contributions in algebraic geometry. Enriques was born in Livorno, and brought up in Pisa, in a Sephardi Jewish family of Portuguese descent. His younger brother was zoologist Paolo Enriques who was also the father of Enzo Enriques Agnoletti and Anna Maria Enriques Agnoletti.
Intersection theoryIn mathematics, intersection theory is one of the main branches of algebraic geometry, where it gives information about the intersection of two subvarieties of a given variety. The theory for varieties is older, with roots in Bézout's theorem on curves and elimination theory. On the other hand, the topological theory more quickly reached a definitive form. There is yet an ongoing development of intersection theory. Currently the main focus is on: virtual fundamental cycles, quantum intersection rings, Gromov-Witten theory and the extension of intersection theory from schemes to stacks.
Guido CastelnuovoGuido Castelnuovo (14 August 1865 – 27 April 1952) was an Italian mathematician. He is best known for his contributions to the field of algebraic geometry, though his contributions to the study of statistics and probability theory are also significant. Castelnuovo was born in Venice. His father, Enrico Castelnuovo, was a novelist and campaigner for the unification of Italy. His mother Emma Levi was a relative of Cesare Lombroso and David Levi. His wife Elbina Marianna Enriques was the sister of mathematician Federigo Enriques and zoologist Paolo Enriques.
Italian school of algebraic geometryIn relation to the history of mathematics, the Italian school of algebraic geometry refers to mathematicians and their work in birational geometry, particularly on algebraic surfaces, centered around Rome roughly from 1885 to 1935. There were 30 to 40 leading mathematicians who made major contributions, about half of those being Italian. The leadership fell to the group in Rome of Guido Castelnuovo, Federigo Enriques and Francesco Severi, who were involved in some of the deepest discoveries, as well as setting the style.
