Scipione del Ferro

February 6, 1465 (age 61)

Bologna, Italy

Del Ferro was a lecturer in arithmetic and geometry at the University of Bologna from 1496 to 1526, except for a brief stay in Venice during the last year. In 1513 he is recorded as an “arithmetician” by Giovanni Filoteo Achillini, in the poem Viridario. After his death, the same subjects were taught by his disciple, Annibale dalla Nave. No work of Del Ferro’s, either printed or in manuscript, is known. It is known from several sources, however, that he was a great algebraist. He is known for the solution of third-degree, or cubic, equations, which had been sought since antiquity. As late as the end of the fifteenth century, Luca Pacioli judged it “impossible” by the methods known at that time. He achieved his solution in the first or second decade of the sixteenth century, as is known from the texts of Tartaglia and Cardano. He did not print any account of his discovery, but divulged it to various people and expounded it in a manuscript that came into the possession of Nave, but which today is unknown. Another of Del Ferro’s contributions to algebra concerns fractions having irrational denominators. The problem of rationalizing the denominator of such a fraction, when there are square roots intervening, goes back to Euclid. In the sixteenth century, the same problem appears with roots of greater index. And here one can single out the case of fractions of the type which Del Ferro was the first to deal with, as can be seen by the manuscript of Bombelli. Finally, it should be noted that Del Ferro also applied himself to the geometry of the compass with a fixed opening, although this theory was ancient, the first examples going back to Abu’l-Wafa’ (tenth century). In the first half of the sixteenth century, this question arose again, particularly because of Tartaglia, Cardano, and Ferrari. And it is because of the testimony of the last-named it can be stated that Scipione also took up this problem, but nothing is known about his researches and his contributions.

Scipione del Ferro

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mathematician scientist

Background

Scipione del Ferro was born on February 6, 1465, in Bologna, Italy, the son of Floriano Ferro, a papermaker by trade, and his wife, Filippa.

Education

Del Ferro was probably educated at the University of Bologna.

Career

Del Ferro was a lecturer in arithmetic and geometry at the University of Bologna from 1496 to 1526, except for a brief stay in Venice during the last year. In 1513 he is recorded as an “arithmetician” by Giovanni Filoteo Achillini, in the poem Viridario. After his death, the same subjects were taught by his disciple, Annibale dalla Nave.

No work of Del Ferro’s, either printed or in manuscript, is known. It is known from several sources, however, that he was a great algebraist. He is known for the solution of third-degree, or cubic, equations, which had been sought since antiquity. As late as the end of the fifteenth century, Luca Pacioli judged it “impossible” by the methods known at that time. He achieved his solution in the first or second decade of the sixteenth century, as is known from the texts of Tartaglia and Cardano. He did not print any account of his discovery, but divulged it to various people and expounded it in a manuscript that came into the possession of Nave, but which today is unknown.

Another of Del Ferro’s contributions to algebra concerns fractions having irrational denominators. The problem of rationalizing the denominator of such a fraction, when there are square roots intervening, goes back to Euclid. In the sixteenth century, the same problem appears with roots of greater index. And here one can single out the case of fractions of the type which Del Ferro was the first to deal with, as can be seen by the manuscript of Bombelli.

Finally, it should be noted that Del Ferro also applied himself to the geometry of the compass with a fixed opening, although this theory was ancient, the first examples going back to Abu’l-Wafa’ (tenth century). In the first half of the sixteenth century, this question arose again, particularly because of Tartaglia, Cardano, and Ferrari. And it is because of the testimony of the last-named it can be stated that Scipione also took up this problem, but nothing is known about his researches and his contributions.

Achievements

Scipione del Ferro went down in history as a distinguished mathematician, geometer and educator. He discovered a method to solve the depressed cubic equation, rationalized the fractions with denominators containing sums of cube roots, and investigated geometry problems with a compass set at a fixed angle.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

Rafael Bombelli: "Del Ferro was a man uniquely gifted in his art."

Connections

Del Ferro was married and had a daughter, who was named Filippa after his mother.

Father:: Floriano Ferro
Mother:: Filippa Ferro
Daughter:: Filippa Ferro
disciple:: Annibale dalla Nave

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