Federigo Enriques

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He was born in Livorno and studied in Pisa as a student of the Scuola Normale Superiore, where he graduated in 1891. His scientific activity began alongside masters such as Betti, Bianchi and Dini in Pisa. In Rome he worked with Guido Castelnuovo and in Turin with Corrado Segre. In 1894 he began teaching projective geometry in Bologna. He remained there until 1923, when he moved to Rome. He became famous for his contributions to the theory of algebraic surfaces, to the Foundations with his system of axioms, to Philosophy. During his period in Bologna he had an intense productive activity in Mathematics, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Fundations of Mathematics. He was president of the Society for Philosophy in Italy and, as such, organized the International Congress of Philosophy in Bologna in 1911.

His main works are "Problems of Science" (1906), "Science and Rationalism" (1912), "Lectures on the Theory of Algebraic Equations" (1914-1934), "La Théorie de la Connaissance Scientifique de Kant a nos Jours" (1938) as well as a large number of school textbooks.

(Source: "Il Dipartimento di Matematica dell'Università di Bologna: Personale, strutture, attività di ricerca - Anno accademico 1988-89" a cura di M. Bernabei e P. Negrini, editrice CLUEB)