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Cirm-Trento-2014-Silvia-Roero.Pdf International relationships among mathematicians and editorial strategies in Italian journals of 18th and 19th centuries C. Silvia Roero CIRM Levico Terme 1-5 December 2014 International Relationships and Editorial strategies My aim is devoted to make a comparison between the editorial strategies put into effect by the editors, collaborators and publishers of certain 18th- century periodicals, published in Venice, in organising, enhancing and spreading advanced scientific knowledge and research in Italy, especially in the field of mathematics, and the strategies adopted in some Italian mathematical journals of 19th century to try to raise the level of mathematical research in Italy. In both cases it was necessary to “open the borders of Italy to Europe and other nations” in order to widen knowledge. The international relationships established by the editors of these journals with Italian and foreign mathematicians played an important role and contributed to attract a public of readers, authors, publishers, …. Following discussions yesterday on the meaning to be given to the word ‘editorial strategies’, I want to stress that I use this term outlining the ways in which the editorial board of a journal intended to pursue an ideal and ambitious project, trying to get success in this enterprise. Following discussions yesterday on the meaning to be given to the word ‘editorial strategies’, I want to stress that I use this term outlining the ways in which the editorial board of a journal intended to pursue an ideal and ambitious project, trying to get success in this enterprise. Editorial Project: to organise, enhance and spread advanced mathematical knowledge in Italy, in order to raise the level of mathematical studies, research and instruction. I will try to make a comparison between the paths taken to achieve their purposes and I will focus in particular on these topics Articles, Translations, Comments/Remarks by editors Choice of collaborators and authors, contacts and correspondence Reports and reviews (significance of the self-reviews) Celebrations, obituaries (significance of the self-biographies) Exchanges of periodicals, circulations ,… Giornale de’ Letterati d’Italia 1710-1740 42 volumes Publishers: 1-38 Gio. Gabriele Hertz, 39-40 M. Fenzo 1710-1718 Editor Apostolo Zeno (1668-1750) 1710-1713 quarterly Vols 1-16 1714 Only 3 vols Vols 17-19 1715-1716 Vols 20-27 1717-1718 only 2 vols each year Vols 28-31 1718 Editor Pier Caterino Zeno (1666-1732) 1719-1720 only 3 vols Vols 32-33 (2 parts: 331 332) 1721-1722 Vol 34 1723-1725 Vols 35-37 F. Seghezzi, S. Mastracà, N. Caramondani, Ludovico Maller 1727 Vol 381 1733 Vol 382 1739 Vol 39 1740 Vol 40 Raccolta d’opuscoli scientifici e filologici 51 vols., Venice 1728-1757 vol. 51 Indexes of 1-50 each volume was dedicated to a personality: prince/princess, nobleman/woman, religious, scholar, professor, librarian, ... 1 duchess Dorotea Sofia 3 countess Clelia Grilla Borromea 7 Ludovico Antonio Muratori 14 Guido Grandi, prof. Philos. Maths Univ. Pise 37 Voltaire, istoriografo di Francia Preface Letter to A. Vallisneri Correspondence with collaborators (journalists, librarians, mathematicians and scientists): A. & P.C. Zeno, S. Maffei, L. A. Muratori, P.M.Paciaudi, G.A. Sassi, L. Bourguet, O. Mencke, A. & A.jr Vallisneri, G.C. & G.F. Fagnani, G. Grandi, G. Poleni, J. Riccati, P. Frisi, G. Torelli, B. Zendrini, T. Narducci, G. Manfredi. MOTIVATIONS, AIMS AND STRATEGIES OF THE EDITORS of GLI Apostolo ZENO 1668-1750 Antonio VALLISNERI Scipione MAFFEI 1661-1730 1675-1755 What the founders of the Giornale de’ Letterati d’Italia first wanted was to promote a renaissance of study and research, after the crisis of the end of the 17th century, actually establishing a community of intellectuals – L. A. Muratori’s literary Republic – supportive and innovative, capable of stimulating their contemporaries to carry out avant-garde research to fill the gap between Italian science and that of the other European countries. L.A. Muratori I primi disegni della Repubblica Letteraria, [Venice] 1703 Mathematics - The spread of the Leibnizian Calculus The Giornale de’ Letterati d’Italia was the ideal context in which to publicise the new differential methods, as well as to show how they could be applied to the study of the problems arising in the fields of geometry, mechanic, physics and astronomy, medicine Science of waters hydrodynamic medicine physics Diffusion of the Leibnizian Calculus in Italy GLI 1710-1722 11 articles on central forces Jacob Hermann 1678-1733 [5 Hermann, 2 Verzaglia, 3 S. Checozzi, 2 Nic. I Bernoulli] 7 differential equations, integral calculus [1 Manfredi, 2 Riccati, 2 Nic. I Bernoulli, 2 Fagnani] Gabriele Manfredi 11 rectification of curves 1681-1761 [10 Fagnani, 1 Nic. I Bernoulli] 5 applications of differential calculus to problems of hydrodynamics, iatromathematics, optics, geometry, ... [3 Zendrini, 1 Riccati, 1 Suzzi] Jacopo Riccati 1676-1754 2 infinitesimals and infinities [Varignon, Grandi] Maths: 9 long reviews – 8 eulogies – 46 news Giulio Fagnani 1682-1766 1. Styles: Articles, Remarks by editors, self-Reviews The fulfilment of the initial plan to demonstrate the skills of the Italian scholars and scientists took three main directions in the GLI, namely articles followed, in the Supplementi, by the journalist’s comments reviews biographies. It was through these channels that readers were able not only to approach the topics of the most advanced scientific research, but also come to know the intellectual course taken by the authors themselves in order to arrive at important results. In this way the journalists aimed to stimulate the spirit of emulation and criticism. Articles in GLI Supplementi 1722-26 The most important novelty was the presence of an anonymous Annotation written at the end of the article, which gave some remarks about the importance of the research, stressing some unusual points or results or aspects or connections with other results of Italian or foreign mathematicians. Since Riccati was the major supervisor, as appears from his correspondence, we can conclude that almost all the Annotations were due to him. The close community of ideals and aims between the journalists and the most brilliant mathematicians made it possible, between 1710 and 1725, to reach a high level of specialised mathematical research, particularly in the use of the Leibnizian analysis and Newtonian mechanics. The fact that their articles frequently featured quotations and references to results or methods used by others in preceding issues of the GLI leads us to maintain that by means of these periodicals a community of mutually supportive researchers was formed in Italy. Muratori’s dream to constitute an Italian scholarly Republic became reality for mathematicians and scientists who collaborated to the journal: Hermann, Riccati, Manfredi, Fagnani, Grandi, Poleni, Zendrini, … (some of them were professors at the Padua University) Moreover the pedagogical sense of the founders and the main collaborators led them to want to show, through the reviews and the biographies, some models to be imitated either because they were outstanding masters and teachers, scientists, researchers or skilled organisers of Italian science in civil institutions, in academies or in journals. The role of the self reviews Particular attention was devoted to works by Italians which gave evidence of originality. In these cases, not only was the newly published volume announced in the Novelle letterarie, but a long review of this book was printed in a specific article in the GLI, which gave an account of its contents and elements of novelty and originality in comparison with current leading research. This kind of article was often requested by the author himself. Why? Because the journalists feared that an account given by some other person would not be capable of pointing out the main aspects, since the editor in question would not be so closely involved with the original specialist research. Since the aim of the founders was to discover and show the talent of Italian authors, whose books dealt with avant-garde methods and research, the role of the self-review became very important for the diffusion of the new infinitesimal calculus. The role of the self reviews It was not by chance that in the first volume of the GLI Manfredi published a 20-page article in the form of a review of his treatise De construtione de aequationum differentialim primi gradus (1707) on the construction of differential equations, which began with a history of the Leibnizian differential and integral calculus, with comments on its usefulness in solving problems and on the limits of Cartesian geometry when faced with transcendental curves and problems of physical mathematics and finished with the following words: “as all this is clearly explained, it serves as useful instruction both for beginners, both for those who are already expert in calculus. The problems solved here are all, or almost all, taken from the Leipzig Proceedings where they were presented without explanation of the analytic procedure. Thus from comparison with these Proceedings the reader can have the pleasure of observing when the solutions agree among themselves and by what path they have been obtained.” The role of panegyrics and of the self biographies The biographical panegyrics of dead authors played an important role in the development and promotion of the publishing plan of the GLI, giving the news of the deaths of the most important figures of Italian culture, who were in contacts with illustrious international personalities (Leibniz, Newton, …). Certainly a notable contribution to the writing of biographies in the Veneto journals of the time was made by the writer Giovannartico Di Porcia, who, in the wake of Muratori’s plan to form a Republic of learned men, in the autumn of 1721 decided to collect a history of the lives and studies of some living Italian scholars. He therefore informed friends, journalists, librarians and collaborators with Veneto periodicals, such as the GLI, Supplementi and Raccolta di opuscoli, asking for their help in looking for authors of self-biographies.
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