Background

Ethnicity: Menabrea's father was a remnant of a Germanic ethnic group, coming from Valais, Switzerland and mother was a French from Savoy.

Luigi Federico Menabrea was born on September 4, 1809, in Chambéry, First French Empire (now Rhone-Alpes, France) to the family of a lawyer Ottavio Antonio Menabrea and Marguerite Pillet. His father committed himself against the French revolutionaries as commander of the National Guard of Chatillon, opposing, in particular, the French troops in 1801. He took refuge, following the second anti-Jacobin insurrection of the "Socques", in Savoy and moved to Chambery. The Ménabréa sometimes was written as Ménèbre were from Verres in Valle d'Aosta, where Luigi Federico Menabrea's grandfather, George Ménabréa was a notary. His mother was a daughter of Dr. Amédée Pillet, from a family of Savoyards. The two families had a strong Catholic tradition.

Education

As a member of the bourgeois society of the former capital of the Duchy of Savoy, Luigi Federico Menabrea entered the Royal College of the city (now Lycée Vaugelas) at the age of 8, directed by the Jesuits. He received the teachings of Father Louis Rendu, physics professor and future bishop of Annecy, who introduced him to science, and Georges-Marie Raymond, professor of history and geography. Menabrea then studied engineering and then mathematics at the University of Turin. He became a doctor of mathematics there.

Career

Upon graduation, Menabrea entered the army corps of engineers. When Charles Albert acceded to the throne in 1831, Cavour resigned his army commission, and Menabrea replaced Cavour at the Alpine fortress of Bardo. Menabrea soon left to become a professor of mechanics and construction at the Military Academy of the Kingdom of Sardinia at Turin and at the University of Turin. To this early period belongs his exposition and extension of Babbage’s invention of a mechanical calculator to be published in 1842.

Menabrea's political career started at this time. Between the years 1848 and 1859 King Charles Albert entrusted Menabrea with diplomatic missions to Modena and Parma. Menabrea then entered Parliament (where he championed proposals for Alpine tunneling) and was attached successively to the ministries of war and foreign affairs. At the same time, he attained the rank of major general and was commander in chief of the army engineers in the Lombard campaigns of 1859. He directed siege and fortification works and also the artificial flooding of the plains between the Dora Baltea and the Sesia rivers to obstruct the Austrian advance.

During this time (1857-1858) Menabrea’s early scientific papers were published, in which he gave the first precise formulation of the methods of structural analysis based on the “virtual work principle” earlier examined by A. Dorna. He studied an elastic truss in these papers and enunciated his “principle of elasticity,” calling it also “principle of least work.” He stated that when an elastic system attains equilibrium under external forces, the work done by the tensions and compressions in the internal members of the system is a minimum.

Menabrea’s political and military advance continued. In 1860 he became lieutenant-general, conducted sieges at Ancona, Capua, and Gaeta was appointed senator and was granted the title of count. He was a minister of the navy under Ricasoli from June 1861 to May 1862 and from January to April 1863 and minister of public works from December 1862 to September 1864 (under Farini and Minghetti). He was named Italian plenipotentiary for the peace negotiations with Austria in 1866. In October 1867 he succeeded Rattazzi as premier, holding simultaneously the portfolio of foreign minister, and remained in these posts in three cabinets until December 1869. During this turbulent period, he was faced with a difficult situation created by Garibaldi’s invasion of the Papal States. Menabrea issued the famous proclamation of 27 October 1868, in which he disavowed Garibaldi, against whom he instituted judicial proceedings. He protested against the pope’s temporal power, insisted on the Italian prerogative of interference in Rome, and contended against infringement of Italian rights in repeated negotiations with Napoleon III and the pope.

In 1868 Menabrea published a new demonstration of his principle of least work, which, although superior to the preceding one, still failed to note the independence of the variations of the internal forces and of the elongations of the members of the structure. This oversight was criticized by Sabbia, Genocchi, and Castigliano, giving rise to a controversy lasting until 1875, which is described in the article on Castigliano. In 1870 Menabrea published jointly with the French mathematician J. L. F. Bertrand (1822-1900), a note that advanced the first valid proof of his principle.

In order to deprive Menabrea of influence as aide-de-camp to King Victor Emmanuel II, and to get him out of the country, Giovanni Lanza, his successor as premier, appointed him ambassador to London, and in 1882 to Paris. In 1875 he was made marquis of Valdora; he retired from public life in 1892.

Achievements

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  Luigi Federico Menabrea managed to build a successful political career as a military, statesman, and diplomat.
  
  Menabrea also had a recognized career as a mathematician and military engineer. He is one of the founders of the modern school of Italian differential geometry. In the mathematical theory of elasticity, his name remains attached to the complementary energy theorem. He was one of the greatest Italian scientists of the nineteenth century, as well as a member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin and of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. As recognition of his achievements, the 1997 VA4 asteroid was named 27988 Menabrea.
  
  On December 30, 1843, Menabrea was given nobility. On November 9, 1861, he was granted the title of Сount. In 1875 he was made Marquis of Valdora. He received Doctor Honoris Causa from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
  
  Menabrea was decorated with a number of Savoyan, Italian and foreign orders.

Works

More photos

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  • Sketch of the Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage 1842
  • Étude de statique physique : principe général pour déterminer les pressions et les tensions dans un système élastique 1865
  • Lois générales de divers ordres de phénomènes: And Sulla determinazione delle tensioni e delle pressioni ne' sistemi elastici 1875
  • Il Genio Nella Campagna D'ancona E Della Cassa Italia, 1860-1861 1864

Religion

Luigi Federico Menabrea was a devout Roman Catholic and nevertheless, he strongly believed that the Pope should lead the Roman Catholic Church, not be the head of a country.

Politics

Luigi Federico Menabrea entered the Piedmontese parliament and was attached successively to the Ministries of War and Foreign Affairs. He belonged to the right centre, and until the events of 1859, he believed in the possibility of a compromise between the Vatican and the state. After the war of 1866, he was chosen as an Italian plenipotentiary for the negotiation of the Treaty of Prague and for the transfer of Venetia to Italy. In October 1867, he succeeded Rattazzi in the premiership and was called upon to deal with the difficult situation created by Garibaldi's invasion of the Papal States and by the catastrophe of Mentana.

Menabrea disavowed Garibaldi and instituted judicial proceedings against him. He withdrew from seminary students in 1860 the exemption from military service which they had hitherto enjoyed. Throughout his term of office, he was supported by the finance minister Count Cambray Digny, who forced through parliament the grist tax proposed by Quintino Sella, though in an altered form from the earlier proposal. After a series of changes in the cabinet, and many crises, Menabrea resigned in December 1869 on the election of a new chamber in which he did not command a majority.

Views

Menabrea was a fierce proponent of science and he celebrated its development not only in Italy but also abroad.

Membership

Luigi Federico Menabrea was a member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Lincean Academy, the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL, the Lombard Institute Academy of Science and Letters, the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, the Italian Geographic Society, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences, and the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Savoie.

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  Academy of Sciences of Turin , Italy

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  Pontifical Academy of Sciences , Vatican

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  Accademia dei Lincei , Italy

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  Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL , Italy

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  Lombard Institute Academy of Science and Letters , Italy

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  Istituto Veneto di Scienze , Italy

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  Italian Geographic Society , Italy

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  Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences , Sweden

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  Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences , Sweden

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  Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Savoie , France

Personality

Menabrea was a person who inspired reverence by his physical presence and intellectual superiority. His manners were elegant and easy and he had a benevolent and affable approach with a nuance of the reserve.

Physical Characteristics: The correct posture, the broad forehead, the lively and bright eyes, and the easy diction appeared to be Menabrea's true native distinction.

Quotes from others about the person

• "The seriousness of mind, the firm judgment, the moderation to be made and to support his opinion, were supplemented by natural benevolence and affability. Respectful of the sincere and disinterested convictions of others, he never allowed differences of opinion to degenerate into bitterness and spite. There was neither haughtiness nor conceit in his house, and in whatever elevated situation he was, he never remained superb, nor less courteous." - Domenico Farini, the President of the Italian Senate from 1887 to 1898

Connections

Luigi Federico Menabrea married a noblewoman Carlotta Richetta di Valgoria from Counts di Valgoria on 5 July 1846 in Turin. They had two sons Carlo Luigi and Ottavio, and a daughter Maria, who married Domenico Trigona, Prince di Sant'Elia, Italian Deputy and Senator.

Father:

Ottavio Antonio Menabrea

Mother:

Marguerite Pillet

Wife:

Carlotta Richetta di Valgoria

Son:

Carlo Luigi Menabrea

Son:

Ottavio Menabrea

Daughter:

Maria Trigona

political opponent:

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Monarch:

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

Acquaintance:

Napoleon III of France

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography: Volumes 9 & 10
  1981
• Luigi Federico Menabrea (1809-1896). Scienza, ingegneria e architettura militare dal Regno di Sardegna al Regno d'Italia
  2011
• Luigi Carlo Farini, Marco Minghetti, Luigi Federico Menabrea
  1992