Editing Vito Volterra (section)

==Biography==
Born in [[Ancona]], then part of the [[Papal States]], into a very poor [[Jewish]] family: his father was Abramo Volterra and his mother, Angelica Almagià. Abramo Volterra died in 1862 when Vito was two years old. The family moved to [[Turin]], and then to [[Florence]], where he studied at the Dante Alighieri Technical School and the Galileo Galilei Technical Institute. <ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf}}</ref>

Volterra showed early promise in [[mathematics]] before attending the [[University of Pisa]], where he fell under the influence of [[Enrico Betti]], and where he became professor of rational mechanics in 1883. He immediately started work developing his theory of [[functional (mathematics)|functional]]s which led to his interest and later contributions in [[integral equation|integral]] and [[integro-differential equation]]s. His work is summarised in his book ''Theory of functionals and of Integral and Integro-Differential Equations'' (1930).

In 1892, he became professor of mechanics at the [[University of Turin]] and then, in 1900, professor of mathematical physics at the [[University of Rome La Sapienza]]. Volterra had grown up during the final stages of the [[Risorgimento]] when the Papal States were finally annexed by [[Italy]] and, like his mentor Betti, he was an enthusiastic patriot, being named by the king [[Victor Emmanuel III]] as a [[Senate of the Kingdom of Italy|senator]] of the Kingdom of Italy in 1905. In the same year, he began to develop the theory of [[dislocation]]s in [[crystal]]s that was later to become important in the understanding of the behaviour of [[ductile]] materials. On the outbreak of [[World War I]], already well into his 50s, he joined the [[Military of Italy|Italian Army]] and worked on the development of [[airship]]s under [[Giulio Douhet]]. He originated the idea of using inert [[helium]] rather than flammable [[hydrogen]] and made use of his leadership abilities in organising its manufacture. {{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

After World War I, Volterra turned his attention to the application of his mathematical ideas to biology, principally reiterating and developing the work of [[Pierre François Verhulst]]. An outcome of this period is the [[Lotka–Volterra equation]]s.

Volterra is the only person who was a [[list of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers|plenary speaker in the International Congress of Mathematicians]] four times (1900, 1908, 1920, 1928).<ref>{{cite web|title=International Congress of Mathematicians|url=http://www.mathunion.org/db/ICM/Speakers/SortedBySection.php}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cF1tAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA43|pages=43–57|year=1902|volume=Tome 2|title=Compte rendu du deuxième Congrès international des mathématiciens tenu à Paris du 6 au 12 Aout 1900|chapter=''Betti, Brioschi, Casorati, trois analystes italiens et trois manières d’envisager les questions d’analyse'' par Vito Volterra}}</ref><ref>Volterra, Vito. [http://media.accademiaxl.it/pubblicazioni/Matematica/link/Volterra_1908.pdf "Le matematiche in Italia nella seconda metà del secolo XIX."] In ''Atti del IV Congresso Internazionale dei Matematici'' (Roma 1908), vol. 1, pp. 55-65. 1909.</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.mathunion.org/ICM/ICM1920/Main/icm1920.0081.0097.ocr.pdf|pages=81–97|year=1921|title=Compte rendu du Congrès international des mathématiciens tenu à Strasbourg du 22 au 30 Septembre 1920|chapter=''Sur l'enseignement de la physique mathématique et de quelques points d'analyse'' par Vito Volterra}}</ref><ref>Volterra, Vito. [https://www.liberliber.it/mediateca/libri/v/volterra/la_teoria_dei_funzionali/pdf/volterra_la_teoria.pdf "La teoria dei funzionali applicata ai fenomeni ereditari."] Atti Congr. intern. dei Mat. a Bologna, vol. 1 (1928), pp. 215–232</ref>

Volterra was an International Member of the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] and the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vito Volterra |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001917.html |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Vito+Volterra&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> 

In 1922, he joined the opposition to the [[Fascist]] regime of [[Benito Mussolini]] and in 1931 he was one of only 12 out of 1,250 professors who refused to take a mandatory oath of loyalty. His political philosophy can be seen in a postcard he sent in the 1930s, on which he wrote what can be seen as an epitaph for Mussolini's Italy: ''Empires die, but Euclid’s theorems keep their youth forever''. However, Volterra was no radical firebrand; he might have been equally appalled if the leftist opposition to Mussolini had come to power since he was a lifelong royalist and nationalist. As a result of his refusal to sign the oath of allegiance to the fascist government he was compelled to resign his university post and his membership of scientific academies, and, during the following years, he lived largely abroad, returning to [[Rome]] just before his death.

In 1936, he was appointed a member of the [[Pontifical Academy of Sciences]], on the initiative of founder [[Agostino Gemelli]].

He died in [[Rome]] on 11 October 1940. He is buried in the [[Ariccia]] Cemetery. The Pontifical Academy organised his funeral and its President [[Carlo Somigliana]] edited a long obituary in the ''[[L'Osservatore Romano|Osservatore romano]]'' on 12 October 1940.<ref>''Senatori ebrei nel Regno d’Italia'' (eds. V. Di Porto and M. Gianfrancesco), La Giuntina, 2024, p. 62.</ref>