Antonio Signorini

Antonio Signorini
Born	(1888-04-02)2 April 1888 Arezzo, Italy
Died	23 February 1963(1963-02-23) (aged 74) Roma, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Fields	Continuum mechanics Constitutive equations External ballistics Finite strain theory
Institutions	University of Palermo University of Naples Federico II Università di Roma
Alma mater	Scuola Normale Superiore (1909) (Mathematics degree) University of Palermo (1921) (Civil engineering degree)
Doctoral advisor	Gian Antonio Maggi
Other academic advisors	Luigi Bianchi, Tullio Levi-Civita
Doctoral students	see the teaching activity section
Other notable students	Gaetano Fichera
Known for	Signorini expansion, Signorini problem
Notable awards	Lavagna prize (1909) Golden medal of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL (1920)

Antonio Signorini (2 April 1888 – 23 February 1963) was an influential Italian mathematical physicist and civil engineer of the 20th century. He is known for his work in finite elasticity, thermoelasticity and for formulating the Signorini problem.

Life

Honors

In 1920, while he was professor at the University of Palermo, he was awarded the gold medal of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL: the members of the judging commission were Luigi Bianchi, Guido Castelnuovo and Tullio Levi-Civita.^[1] Mauro Picone remarks that he was not awarded by the royal prize of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei only because he become earlier a member of the academy.^[2]

Work

While only very few scientists between 1845 and 1945 studied the foundations of continuum mechanics, among them there were some of the most distinguished savants of the period: (...). In that period, however, many papers on the subject were published. When not essentially repetitions of earlier studies, these concerned special theories or approximations, most of which have turned later to be unnecessary in the cases when they are justified. Knowledge of the true principles of the general theory seems to have diminished except in Italy, where it was kept alive by the teaching and writing of Signorini.

—Clifford A. Truesdell and Walter Noll, (Truesdell & Noll 1965, pp. 8–9)

Research activity

His scientific production includes more than 114 works, being papers, monographs and textbooks, 17 of which have been collected in his "Opere Scelte".^[3]

Teaching activity

Among his "allievi" there are some of the most important Italian mathematicians and mathematical physicists: a partial list of them is reported below

He was also close friend and teacher of Gaetano Fichera at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica, inspiring his research in continuum mechanics, his solution of the Signorini problem and the creation of the field of variational inequalities.

Publications

• Signorini, Antonio (1959), "Questioni di elasticità non linearizzata e semilinearizzata", Rendiconti di Matematica e delle sue applicazioni, 5 (in Italian) 18: 95–139, MR 0118021, Zbl 0091.38006 . An English translation of the title reads as:–Issues in non linear and semilinear elasticity.
• Signorini, Antonio (1991), Opere scelte, Firenze: Edizioni Cremonese (distributed by Unione Matematica Italiana), pp. XXXI + 695 . His "Selected works", a volume collecting the most important works of Antonio Signorini with an introduction and a commentary of Giuseppe Grioli.

See also

• Constitutive equation
• External ballistics
• Finite strain theory
• Signorini problem

Notes

Biographical references

• Agostinelli, Cataldo (1963), "Antonio Signorini 1888–1963", Bollettino della Unione Matematica Italiana, Serie 3, (in Italian) 18 (3): 327–330, Zbl 0112.00315 , available from the Biblioteca Digitale Italiana di Matematica.
• Bianchi, L.; Castelnuovo, G.; Levi-Civita, T. (1920), "Relazione sul premio per la Matematica (anno 1920), presentata dalla Commissione composta dei Soci: Bianchi, Castelnuovo e Levi-Civita", Rendiconti della Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL, Memorie di Matematica e Applicazioni, Serie 3, (in Italian) XXI (66): XXXIII–XXXV .
• Fichera, Gaetano (1995), "La nascita della teoria delle disequazioni variazionali ricordata dopo trent'anni", Incontro scientifico italo-spagnolo. Roma, 21 ottobre 1993, Atti dei Convegni Lincei (in Italian) 114, Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, pp. 47–53 . The birth of the theory of variational inequalities remembered thirty years later (English translation of the title) is an historical paper describing the beginning of the theory of variational inequalities from the point of view of its founder.
• Grioli, Giuseppe (1991), "L'opera di Antonio Signorini nella Fisica Matematica", in Signorini, Antonio, Opere scelte (in Italian), Firenze: Edizioni Cremonese (distributed by Unione Matematica Italiana), pp. XI–XXIV . This article, published in Signorinis's "Selected works" and whose English translation title is "The work of Antonio Signorini in Mathematical Physics" in the English translation, is an ample commentary on Signorini's work in mathematical physics written by one of his "allievi".
• Picone, Mauro (1965), "Commemorazione di Antonio Signorini", Atti e Memorie della Accademia Petrarca di Lettere, Arti e Scienze, Nuova Serie (in Italian), XXXVII (1958–1964): 378–402 . The "Commemoration of Antonio Signorini" written by his colleague and close fiend Mauro Picone.

References

• Ericksen, J. L. (1960), "Tensor Fields (Appendix to "The Classical Field Theories")", in Flügge, Siegfried, Principles of Classical Mechanics and Field Theory/Prinzipien der Klassischen Mechanik und Feldtheorie, Handbuch der Physik (Encyclopedia of Physics), III/1, Berlin–Heidelberg–New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 794–858, MR 0118005, Zbl 0118.39702 .
• Truesdell, C.; Noll, W. (1965), Flügge, Siegfried, ed., The Non-Linear Field Theories of Mechanics/Die Nicht-Linearen Feldtheorien der Mechanik, Handbuch der Physik (Encyclopedia of Physics), III/3, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 1–602, MR 0193816, Zbl 0137.19501 .
• Truesdell, C.; Toupin, R.A. (1960), "The Classical Field Theories", in Flügge, Siegfried, Principles of Classical Mechanics and Field Theory/Prinzipien der Klassischen Mechanik und Feldtheorie, Handbuch der Physik (Encyclopedia of Physics), III/1, Berlin–Heidelberg–New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 226–793, MR 0118005, Zbl 0118.39702 .
• Fichera, Gaetano (1972), "Boundary value problems of elasticity with unilateral constraints", in Flügge, Siegfried; Truesdell, Clifford A., Festkörpermechanik/Mechanics of Solids, Handbuch der Physik/Encyclopedia of Physics, VIa/2 (paperback 1984 ed.), Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 391–424, ISBN 3-540-13161-2, Zbl 0277.73001 , ISBN 0-387-13161-2. The encyclopedia entry about problems with unilateral constraints (the class of boundary value problems the Signorini problem belongs to) he wrote for the Handbuch der Physik on invitation by Clifford Truesdell.