Vito Volterra

Vito Volterra (1860 to 1940) was an Italian mathematician and physicist, known for his contributions to mathematical biology and integral equations and counted among the founders of functional analysis. Born in Ancona into a very poor Jewish family, he studied at the University of Pisa under Enrico Betti, became professor of rational mechanics there in 1883, then professor of mechanics at the University of Turin in 1892 and professor of mathematical physics at the University of Rome La Sapienza in 1900. His book on functionals and integral and integro-differential equations summarised that work. During the First World War he worked on Italian airships and originated the idea of using inert helium rather than flammable hydrogen. Afterward he applied mathematics to biology, and the Lotka-Volterra equations are an outcome. In 1931 he refused the mandatory loyalty oath to the fascist regime, which cost him his university post.