Bonferroni, Carlo Emilio (1892–1960)

Bonferroni was born in Bergamo (near Milan), Italy, on January 28, 1892. Educated at Turin University, his first post was assistant professor in financial mathematics, mechanics, and geometry at the Turin Polytechnic. In 1923, he was appointed professor of financial mathematics at the Economics Institute in Bari, where he served 7 years as rector.

In 1933 he moved to Firenze (Florence), where he remained until his death. During his time in Firenze, he filled a variety of administrative posts. For example, in the immediate postwar years, he acted both as head of the statistics faculty at Bocconi University, Milan, and as head of the Faculty of Architecture in Florence.

His work on inequalities, published in 1935 and 1936, represented only a small part of his interests. For example, his inaugural lecture was concerned with the foundations of probability (which he viewed as the limit of relative frequency when the entire population is sampled).

The handwritten notes he produced for his students reveal his deep insights into mathematics—often revealed through neat and idiosyncratic solutions. By all accounts, he was a sensitive and kind-hearted man and a gentleman. He was a talented pianist and also composed music. In his younger days, he was a keen glacier walker. His garden was described as enchanting.

Bonferroni died on August 18, 1960, in Firenze.