Giacinto Morera (18 July 1856 – 8 February 1909) was an Italian engineer and mathematician. He is known for Morera's theorem in the theory of functions of a complex variable and for his work in the theory of linear elasticity.
Biography
Life He was born in Novara on 18 July 1856, the son of Giacomo Morera and Vittoria Unico. According to Tricomi (1962), his family was a wealthy one, his father being a rich merchant. This occurrence eased him in his studies after the laurea: however, he was an extraordinarily hard worker and he widely used this ability in his researches. After studying in Turin he went to Pavia, Pisa and Leipzig: then he went back to Pavia for a brief period in 1885, and finally he went to Genoa in 1886, living here for the next 15 years. While in Genoa, he married his fellow-citizen Cesira Faà. From 1901 on to his death he worked in Turin: he died of pneumonia on 8 February 1909.
Education and academic career
He earned in 1878 the laurea in engineering and then, in 1879, the laurea in mathematics, both awarded him from the Polytechnic University of Turin: According to Somigliana (1910a, p. 605), the title of his thesis in the mathematical sciences was: "Sul moto di un punto attratto da due centri fissi colla legge di Newton". In Turin he attended the courses held by Enrico d'Ovidio, Angelo Genocchi and particularly the ones held by Francesco Siacci: later in his life, Morera acknowledged Siacci as his mentor in scientific research and life. After graduating, he followed several advanced courses: he studied in Pavia from 1881 to 1882 under Eugenio Beltrami, Eugenio Bertini and Felice Casorati. In 1883 he was in Pisa under Enrico Betti, Riccardo de Paolis and Ulisse Dini: a year later, he was in Leipzig under Felix Klein, Adolph Mayer and Carl Neumann. In 1885 he went in Berlin in order to follow the lessons of Hermann von Helmholtz, Gustav Kirchhoff, Leopold Kronecker and Karl Weierstrass at the local university: later in the same year, he went back to Italy, briefly working at the University of Pavia as a professor in the then newly established "Scuola di Magistero". In 1886, after passing the required competitive examination by a judging commission, he became professor of rational mechanics at the University of Genoa: he lived there for 15 years, serving also as dean and as rector. In 1901 he was called by the University of Turin to hold the chair of rational mechanics, left vacant by Vito Volterra. In 1908 he passed to the chair of "Meccanica Superiore" and was elected dean of the Faculty of Sciences.
Honours He was member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (first elected corresponding member on 18 July 1896, then elected national member on 26 August 1907) and of the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino (elected on 9 February 1902). Maggi (1910, p. 317) refers that also the Kharkov Mathematical Society elected him corresponding member during the meeting of the society held on 31 October 1909 (Old Calendar), being apparently not aware of his death.
Tracts of his personality and attitudes
In his commemorative papers, Carlo Somigliana describes extensively Morera's personality: according to him, he was a devoted friend and precious colleague, capable of serenely judging men and facts. On the very personal level, he remembers him as a cheerful person and a witty talker. His intelligence is described as sharp and penetrating, his mind as uncommonly lucid, himself as possessing analytic and critical abilities and being versatile, capable to grasp and appreciate every kind of manifestation of the human intellect. Nevertheless, Somigliana also states that he was not interested in any scientific or other kind of field outside of his own realm of expertise. Morera (1889, p. 15) himself, in the inaugural address as the rector of the University of Genoa, after quoting a statement attributed to Peter Guthrie Tait, revealed the reason behind his views: "In science, the one who has a sound and solid knowledge, even in a narrow field, holds a true strength and he can use it whenever he needs: the one who has only a superficial knowledge, however wide and striking, holds nothing, and indeed he often holds a weakness pushing him towards vanity". Acknowledged as honest, loyal and conscientious, good-tempered and with a good intellect, his simple manners earned him affection even when performing the duties of dean and rector at the University of Genoa. Also Maggi (1910, p. 319) describes him as a man of high moral value, and ascribes to such qualities the reason of his success in social relations and in performing his duties as a civil servant. However, despite being successful in social relations, he did not care for, nor appreciate, appearances and was not interested in activities other than teaching and doing research: consequently, he was not well known outside the circle of his family and relatives and the circle of his colleagues. He did not make a display of himself, careless of not being acknowledged by everyone for his true value: he also had a serious conception of life and strongly disliked vanity and superficiality. According to Somigliana, his entire life was devoted to the higher unselfish ideal of scientific research: and Maggi (1910, p. 319) also remarks that only his beloved family shared the same attentions and cares he reserved for his lifelong ideal.
Work
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