Nicla Palladino

Bio: Nicla Palladino is an academic researcher from University of Palermo. The author has contributed to research in topics: Beauty & Divergent thinking. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 13 publications receiving 21 citations. Previous affiliations of Nicla Palladino include University of Salerno.

A continuing debate in elementary geometry: the Simson–Wallace line and its many generalisations

Abstract: For some years now the importance has been appraised of demonstrating elementary geometry to pupils and future teachers through interactive geometry software. This fits within a view of the teaching of geometry that stresses a hands-on approach, thanks to which it is possible to teach the subject via historical syllabi, touching on ideas from different origins and of a transversal nature. The debate about the role of elementary geometry in the last 30 years is connected to this, with contributions by scholars such as Yaglom, Scimemi and Betti. In the perspective of following a sequence of elementary geometry constructions historically connected with each other, we suggest a path that analyses subjects linked with the Simson–Wallace line (and some significant points, such as the Clifford point); its history is full of intriguing ideas which in the past aroused the interest of great mathematicians as Steiner, Cremona and Clifford.

Mathematicians and the Nation in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century as Reflected in the Luigi Cremona Correspondence

Abstract: Up until the French Revolution, European mathematics was an “aristocratic” activity, the intellectual pastime of a small circle of men who were convinced they were collaborating on a universal undertaking free of all space-time constraints, as they believed they were ideally in dialogue with the Greek founders and with mathematicians of all languages and eras. The nineteenth century saw its transformation into a “democratic” but also “patriotic” activity: the dominant tendency, as shown by recent research to analyze this transformation, seems to be the national one, albeit accompanied by numerous analogies from the point of view of the processes of national evolution, possibly staggered in time. Nevertheless, the very homogeneity of the individual national processes leads us to view mathematics in the context of the national-universal tension that the spread of liberal democracy was subjected to over the past two centuries. In order to analyze national-universal tension in mathematics, viewed as an intellectual undertaking and a profession of the new bourgeois society, it is necessary to investigate whether the network of international communication survived the political, social, and cultural upheavals of the French Revolution and the European wars waged in the early nineteenth century, whether national passions have transformed this network, and if so, in what way. Luigi Cremona's international correspondence indicates that relationships among individuals have been restructured by the force of national membership, but that the universal nature of mathematics has actually been boosted by a vision shared by mathematicians from all countries concerning the role of their discipline in democratic and liberal society as the basis of scientific culture and technological innovation, as well as a basic component of public education.

History of Mathematics: Models and Visualization in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Abstract: This workshop brings together historians of mathematics and science as well as mathematicians to explore important historical developments connected with models and visual elements in the mathematical and physical sciences. It will address the larger question of what mathematicians mean by a model, a term that has been used in a variety of contexts, both within pure mathematics as well as in applications to other fields. Most of the talks will present case studies from the period 1800 to 1950 that deal with the modelling of analytical, geometrical, mechanical, astronomical, and physical phenomena. Some speakers will also show how computergenerated models and animations can be used to enhance visual understanding. This workshop will also consider the role of visual thinking as a component of mathematical creativity and understanding. For the period in view, we hope to form a provisional picture of how models and visual thinking shaped important historical developments.