Antonio Signorini (physicist)

Antonio Signorini (2 April 1888 – 23 February 1963) was an influential Italian mathematical physicist and civil engineer of the 20th century. He is known for his work in finite elasticity, thermoelasticity and for formulating the Signorini problem.

Antonio Signorini
Born	(1888-04-02)2 April 1888 Arezzo, Italy
Died	23 February 1963(1963-02-23) (aged 74) Rome, Italy
Alma mater	Scuola Normale Superiore (1909) (Mathematics degree) University of Palermo (1921) (Civil engineering degree)
Known for	Signorini expansion Signorini problem
Awards	Lavagna prize (1909) Golden medal of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL (1920)
Scientific career
Fields	Continuum mechanics Constitutive equations External ballistics Finite strain theory
Institutions	University of Palermo University of Naples Federico II Università di Roma
Doctoral advisor	Gian Antonio Maggi
Other academic advisors	Luigi Bianchi Tullio Levi-Civita
Doctoral students	Carlo Cattaneo Piero Giorgio Bordoni
Other notable students	Gaetano Fichera

Life

Honors

He was awarded the gold medal of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL in 1920, while he was working at the University of Palermo: the members of the judging commission were Luigi Bianchi, Guido Castelnuovo and Tullio Levi-Civita.

In 1924, on 8 June, he was elected ordinary non resident member of the mathematics division of the Accademia Pontaniana.

On 30 May 1931 he was elected corresponding member of the Società Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Napoli: later on, precisely on 11 February 1933 and on 4 June 1949 he was elected, respectively, ordinary member and ordinary non resident member of the same academy.

He was elected corresponding member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei on July 15, 1935, and then national member on February 4, 1947. However, he was never awarded the royal prize of this academy, because he became a very early a member of it, thus losing the right to win a prize.

Work

While only very few scientists between 1845 and 1945 studied the foundations of continuum mechanics, among them there were some of the most distinguished savants of the period: (...). In that period, however, many papers on the subject were published. When not essentially repetitions of earlier studies, these concerned special theories or approximations, most of which have turned later to be unnecessary in the cases when they are justified. Knowledge of the true principles of the general theory seems to have diminished except in Italy, where it was kept alive by the teaching and writing of Signorini.

— Clifford A. Truesdell and Walter Noll, (Truesdell & Noll 1965, pp. 8–9)

Research activity

His scientific production includes more than 114 works, being papers, monographs and textbooks, 17 of which have been collected in his "Opere Scelte" (Selected works).

Teaching activity

Among his "allievi" there are some of the most important Italian mathematicians and mathematical physicists; a partial list of them is below:

• Carlo Cattaneo
• Ida Cattaneo Gasparini
• Piero Giorgio Bordoni
• Giuseppe Grioli
• Giuseppe Tedone
• Carlo Tolotti

He was also a close friend and teacher of Gaetano Fichera at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica, inspiring his research in continuum mechanics, his solution of the Signorini problem and the creation of the field of variational inequalities.

Selected publications

• Signorini, Antonio (1959), "Questioni di elasticità non linearizzata e semilinearizzata" [Issues in non linear and semilinear elasticity], Rendiconti di Matematica e delle sue Applicazioni, Serie 5 (in Italian), 18: 95–139, MR 0118021, Zbl 0091.38006. An important work, summarizing Signorini's approach to continuum mechanics of finite strains.
• Signorini, Antonio (1991), Opere scelte [Selected works], Firenze: Edizioni Cremonese (distributed by Unione Matematica Italiana), pp. XXXI + 695. A volume collecting the most important works of Antonio Signorini with an introduction and a commentary of Giuseppe Grioli.

See also

• Constitutive equation
• External ballistics
• Finite strain theory
• Signorini problem

References

Biographical and general references

• Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (2012), Annuario dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 2012 – CDX dalla Sua Fondazione (PDF) (in Italian), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, p. 734, archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016, retrieved 16 June 2014. The "Yearbook" of the renowned Italian scientific institution, including an historical sketch of its history, the list of all past and present members as well as a wealth of information about its academic and scientific activities.
• Accademia Pontaniana (2015), Annuario della Accademia Pontaniana 2015 (DLXXIII dalla fondazione) (PDF) (in Italian), Napoli: Nella Sede dell'Accademia, p. 180, archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2015, retrieved 9 March 2015. The "Yearbook 2015" of the Accademia Pontaniana, published by the Academy itself and describing its past and present hierarchies and its activities. It also gives some notes on its history, the full list of its members and other useful information.
• Agostinelli, Cataldo (1963), "Antonio Signorini 1888–1963", Bollettino della Unione Matematica Italiana, Serie 3 (in Italian), 18 (3): 327–330, Zbl 0112.00315, available from the Biblioteca Digitale Italiana di Matematica.
• Bianchi, L.; Castelnuovo, G.; Levi-Civita, T. (1920), "Relazione sul premio per la Matematica (anno 1920), presentata dalla Commissione composta dei Soci: Bianchi, Castelnuovo e Levi-Civita" (PDF), Rendiconti della Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze Detta dei XL, Memorie di Matematica e Applicazioni, Serie 3 (in Italian), XXI (66): XXXIII–XXXV
• Fichera, Gaetano (1995), "La nascita della teoria delle disequazioni variazionali ricordata dopo trent'anni", Incontro scientifico italo-spagnolo. Roma, 21 ottobre 1993, Atti dei Convegni Lincei (in Italian), vol. 114, Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, pp. 47–53, archived from the original on 23 February 2012, retrieved 17 February 2013. The birth of the theory of variational inequalities remembered thirty years later (English translation of the title) is an historical paper describing the beginning of the theory of variational inequalities from the point of view of its founder.
• Finzi, Bruno (1964), "Commemorazione del Socio Antonio Signorini" [Commemoration of Member Antonio Signorini], Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali. Rendiconti Lincei, Serie VIII, 36 (5): 15–16, Zbl 0121.00912.
• Grioli, Giuseppe (1991), "L'opera di Antonio Signorini nella Fisica Matematica", in Signorini, Antonio (ed.), Opere scelte (in Italian), Firenze: Edizioni Cremonese (distributed by Unione Matematica Italiana), pp. XI–XXIV, archived from the original on 28 December 2009. This article, published in Signorinis's "Selected works" and whose English translation title is "The work of Antonio Signorini in Mathematical Physics" in the English translation, is an ample commentary on Signorini's work in mathematical physics written by one of his "allievi".
• Picone, Mauro (1965), "Commemorazione di Antonio Signorini", Atti e Memorie della Accademia Petrarca di Lettere, Arti e Scienze, Nuova Serie (in Italian), XXXVII (1958–1964): 378–402. The "Commemoration of Antonio Signorini" written by his colleague and close fiend Mauro Picone.
• Società Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Napoli (2012), Annuario della Società Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Napoli 2012 (PDF) (in Italian), Napoli: Società Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Napoli, p. 198, archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2015, retrieved 16 June 2014. The "Yearbook" of the renowned Italian scientific institution, including the list of all past and present members as well as a wealth of information about its academic and scientific activities.

Scientific references

• Ericksen, J. L. (1960), "Tensor Fields (Appendix to "The Classical Field Theories")", in Flügge, Siegfried (ed.), Principles of Classical Mechanics and Field Theory/Prinzipien der Klassischen Mechanik und Feldtheorie, Handbuch der Physik (Encyclopedia of Physics), vol. III/1, Berlin–Heidelberg–New York City: Springer-Verlag, pp. 794–858, Bibcode:1960HDP.....2.....F, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-45943-6, ISBN 978-3-540-02547-4, MR 0118005, Zbl 0118.39702.
• Truesdell, C.; Noll, W. (1965), Flügge, Siegfried (ed.), "The Non-Linear Field Theories of Mechanics/Die Nicht-Linearen Feldtheorien der Mechanik", Handbuch der Physik, Handbuch der Physik (Encyclopedia of Physics), III/3, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York City: Springer-Verlag: 1–602, Bibcode:1965HDP.....2.....T, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-46015-9, ISBN 978-3-642-46017-3, MR 0193816, Zbl 0137.19501.
• Truesdell, C.; Toupin, R.A. (1960), "The Classical Field Theories", in Flügge, Siegfried (ed.), Principles of Classical Mechanics and Field Theory/Prinzipien der Klassischen Mechanik und Feldtheorie, Handbuch der Physik (Encyclopedia of Physics), vol. III/1, Berlin–Heidelberg–New York City: Springer-Verlag, pp. 226–793, Bibcode:1960HDP.....2.....F, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-45943-6, ISBN 978-3-540-02547-4, MR 0118005, Zbl 0118.39702.
• Fichera, Gaetano (1972), "Boundary value problems of elasticity with unilateral constraints", in Flügge, Siegfried; Truesdell, Clifford A. (eds.), Festkörpermechanik/Mechanics of Solids, Handbuch der Physik/Encyclopedia of Physics, vol. VIa/2 (paperback 1984 ed.), Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 391–424, ISBN 3-540-13161-2, Zbl 0277.73001, ISBN 0-387-13161-2. The encyclopedia entry about problems with unilateral constraints (the class of boundary value problems the Signorini problem belongs to) he wrote for the Handbuch der Physik on invitation by Clifford Truesdell.