Jacopo Francesco, Count Riccati - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

JACOPO FRANCESCO RICCATI, Count (1676-1754), Italian mathematician, was born at Venice on the 8th of May 1676, and died at Treviso on the 15th of April 17 54.

He studied at the university of Padua, where he graduated in 1696. His favourite pursuits were scientific, and his authority on all questions of practical science was referred to by the senate of Venice. He corresponded with many of the European savants of his day, and contributed largely to the Ada Eruditorum of Leipzig. He was offered the presidency of the academy of science of St Petersburg; but he declined, preferring the leisure and independence of life in Italy. Riccati's name is best known in connexion with his problem called Riccati's equation, published in the Ada Eruditorum, September 1724. A very complete account of this equation and its various transformations was given by J. W. L. Glaisher in the Phil. Trans. (1881).

After Riccati's death his works were collected by his sons and published (1758) in four volumes. His sons, Vincenzo (1707-1775) and Giordano (1709-1790), inherited his talents. The former was professor of mathematics at Bologna, and published, among other works, a treatise on the infinitesimal calculus. Giordano was distinguished both as a mathematician and an architect.