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Delving into previously undisclosed archival sources, this monograph offers a meticulously researched portrayal of Italian Jewish mathematicians amidst the turmoil sparked by the 1938 Italian Racial Laws. Forced migration due to fascist anti-Semitism saw the exodus of numerous Jewish intellectuals. Highlighting the experiences of select academic mathematicians such as Guido Fubini, Gino Fano, Beniamino Segre, Alessandro Terracini, and others who fled Italy, this work casts a light on a diaspora that presents unique aspects thanks to pre-existing networks of international scientific solidarity. Despite challenges stemming from language, society, and institutions, their narratives reveal the profound human dimensions of adversity, choice, and camaraderie.
Suitable for scholars and students of 20th-century history, as well as a wider audience intrigued by Italy's complex past, these pages offer invaluable insights into a dark chapter of the country's history.
List of contents
- Part I The migration phenomenon.- From the ghetto to the city, and thence to the country.- The fateful year 1938: the persecution of the Italian Jews.- Fleeing from Italy.- Gallery 1 Those who failed to leave.- Gallery 2 Dispersed Families.- Under another heaven.- Coming Back to Italy.- Part II Individuals.- 'An illustrious migrant': Guido Fubini in Princeton.- "Never go to a country likely to be at war with Italy": Gino Fano in Switzerland.- Bringing to England "the foremost of the younger School of Italian geometers": B. Segre.- An episode of partial professional retraining: Alessandro Terracini in Argentina.- Beppo Levi, a leader in his host country.- Bonaparte Colombo: the inability to return to normal life.
About the author
Erika Luciano is professor of history of mathematics at the Department of Philosophy and Education Sciences of the University of Torino, Italy. Her research focuses on social history of mathematics and science, considered as human enterprises, in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2022 Luciano has been awarded the international prize for young researchers in history of mathematics by the Italian Mathematical Union and the Italian Society for the History of Mathematics.
