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Gabrio Piola
Summary
Gabrio Piola (15 July 1794 – 9 November 1850) was an Italian mathematician and physicist, member of the Lombardo Institute of Science, Letters and Arts. He studied in particular the mechanics of the continuous, linking his name to the tensors called Piola–Kirchhoff.
Count Gabrio Piola Daverio was born in Milan in a rich and aristocratic family. Initially he studied at home and then at the local high school. Given his exceptional ability in mathematics and physics, he started to study mathematics at the University of Pavia, as a student of Vincenzo Brunacci, obtaining his doctorate on 24 June 1816. He didn’t follow an academic career even though he was offered the chair of Applied Mathematics in Rome; he preferred dedicating himself to private teaching.
One of his students was Francesco Brioschi who became Professor of rational mechanics at Pavia and President of the Academy of High Schools.
His research activity started in 1824, winning a competition and related prize at the Lombard Institute of Milan, with a long article on the mechanics of Lagrange. His mathematical research contributed to the calculation of the finite differences and to integral calculus, whilst in mechanics he dedicated himself to continuous mechanics and to hydraulics.
Piola was also editor of a journal, mathematical and physics booklets of which only two volumes were published. However this journal was the means of presenting the theories of Cauchy in Italy: in effect the journal contained some of Cauchy’s fundamental works, translated from French into Italian.
Count Piola was also a person of great culture who dedicated himself to the study of history and philosophy: amongst the fruits of his studies he wrote about Bonaventura Cavalieri.
He was a member of many scientific societies, amongst which the Italian Society of Science, and from 1825 he was part of the Roman Academy of the Catholic Religion. He was a fervent Catholic, as also was Cauchy. For the latter Piola was a reference point for his stay in Italy from 1830 to 1833.
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