Francesco Brioschi

Francesco Brioschi was an Italian mathematician who contributed to the study of mathematical physics, born in Milan on 22 December 1824 and died there in December 1897. He taught at the University of Pavia, where his students included Eugenio Beltrami, Luigi Cremona and Felice Casorati. As a mathematician he published various algebraic theories and studied the solution of fifth and sixth-degree equations using elliptic functions. After Italian unification he entered the Chamber of Deputies and twice served as secretary of the Education Ministry, and in 1863 he founded the Polytechnic University of Milan, where he worked until his death. He joined the Accademia dei Lincei in 1870, became its president in 1884, and directed the Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata between 1867 and 1877.