COUNT JACOPO

See also:

• FRANCESCO
• FRANCESCO, 210

FRANCESCO

See also:

• COUNT JACOPO FRANCESCO RICCATI (1676-1754)

RICCATI (1676-1754)  , Italian mathematician, was born at Venice on the 8th of May 1676, and died at Treviso on the 15th of April 1754 . He studied at the university of Padua, where he graduated in 1696 . His favourite pursuits were scientific, and his authority on all questions of practical science was referred to by the senate of Venice . He corresponded with many of the European savants of his day, and contributed largely to the Acta Eruditorum of Leipzig . He was offered the presidency of the academy of science of St Petersburg; but he declined, preferring the leisure and independence of life in Italy . Riccati's name is best known in connexion with his problem called Riccati's equation, published in the Acta Eruditorum, September 1724 . A very complete account of this equation and its various transformations was given by J . W . L . Glaisher in the Phil . Trans . (1881) .

After Riccati's

death his works were collected by his sons and published (1758) in four volumes . His sons, Vincenzo (17o7-1775) and Giordano (1709-1790), inherited his talents . The former was professor of mathematics at Bologna, and published, among other works, a treatise on the infinitesimal calculus . Giordano was distinguished both as a mathematician and an architect .