Piergiorgio Odifreddi

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Piergiorgio Odifreddi (born July 13, 1950), is an Italian mathematician, logician and aficionado of the history of science, who is also extremely active as a popular science writer and essayist. By many, he is considered the Richard Dawkins of Italian science writing.

Born in Cuneo (Piedmont), he received his Ph.D. in mathematics in Turin in 1973. From 1983 to 2002, he taught in both Italy (Turin, Alessandria, Siena, Milan) and in the United States (Cornell University). Since 2001, he has been a Professor of mathematical logic in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Turin.

A vivacious and controversial debater, he is particularly well-known in Italy for his longstanding criticisms and ridicule of the writings and popular interventions of Antonino Zichichi, who went as far as to sue him for defamation of character. Odifreddi was quickly absolved of all charges. He has written editorials and books reviews for La rivista dei libri (the Italian edition of the New York Review of Books), is a regular contributor to Le Scienze (the Italian edition of Scientific American), and has also written for several newspapers such as La Repubblica, La Stampa and the weekly L'Espresso. The television stations Radio Tre, RAI Due and RAI Tre have hosted many of his discussions on various scientific topics.

Contents

[edit] Honors

  • 1998 - Galileo Prize of the Italian Mathematical Union.
  • 2002 - Peano Prize of Mathesis
  • 2005 - Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana

[edit] Works

  • Piergiorgio Odifreddi (1989): Classical recursion Theory, North Holland
  • Piergiorgio Odifreddi (1999): Classical recursion Theory. Volume II, North Holland

Popular writings

  • Il Vangelo secondo la Scienza, Einaudi, 1999 ISBN 88-06-14930-X (The Gospel According to Science)
  • La matematica del '900, prefazione di Giancarlo Rota, Einaudi, 2000 ISBN 88-06-15153-3 (The Mathematics of the 20th Century)
  • C'era una volta un paradosso, Einaudi, 2001 ISBN 88-06-15090-1 (Once upon a time there was a paradox)
  • Zichicche, Dedalo, 2003 ISBN 88-220-6260-4 ("Zichicchinuggets", the book that almost got him in some trouble)
  • Il diavolo in cattedra. La logica matematica da Aristotele a Kurt Gödel, Einaudi, 2003 ISBN 88-06-16721-9 (The Devil in the Professor's Chair: Mathematical Logic from Aristotle to Kurt Goedel)
  • Divertimento geometrico - Da Euclide ad David Hilbert, 2003, Bollati Boringhieri, ISBN 88-339-5714-4 (Geometric Diversions - From Euclid to Hilbert)
  • Le menzogne di Ulisse. L'avventura della logica da Parmenide ad Amartya Sen, 2004, Longanesi, ISBN 88-304-2044-1 (Ulysses' Lies. The Adventure of Logic from Parmenides to Amartya Sen)
  • Il matematico impertinente, 2005, Longanesi, ISBN 88-304-2222-3 (The Impertinent Mathematician)
  • Penna, pennello, bacchetta: le tre invidie del matematico, 2005, Laterza, ISBN 88-420-7643-0 (Pen, brush, baton: the three jealousies of the mathematician)
  • Idee per diventare matematico, 2005, Zanichelli, ISBN 88-08-07063-8 (Ideas for becoming a mathematician)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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