The Biology of Numbers: The Correspondence of Vito Volterra on Mathematical Biology (Science Networks. Historical Studies) [Hardcover]

Giorgio Israel (Author), Ana M. Gasca (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 3764365145 | ISBN-13: 978-3764365141 | Publication Date: March 22, 2002 | Edition: 1

The modern developments in mathematical biology took place roughly between 1920 and 1940, a period now referred to as the "Golden Age of Theoretical Biology". The eminent Italian mathematician Vito Volterra played a decisive and widely acknowledged role in these developments. Volterra's specific project was to transfer the model and the concepts of classical mechanics to biology, constructing a sort of "rational mechanics" and an "analytic mechanics" of biological associations. The new subject was thus to be equipped with a solid experimental or at least empirical basis, also in this case following the tried and tested example of mathematical physics. Although very few specific features of this reductionist programme have actually survived, Volterra's contribution was decisive, as is now universally acknowledged, in encouraging fresh studies in the field of mathematical biology. Even today, the primary reference in the literature of the field of population dynamics consists of Volterra's work and the descriptive schemata (the "models", in modern parlance) he proposed. The present book aims to fill this historiographic gap by providing an exhaustive collection of the correspondence between Volterra and numerous other scientists on the topic of mathematical biology. The book begins with an introductory essay by Ana Millán Gasca, which aims at giving a picture of the research field of biomathematics in the "Golden Age", and shows the importance of the correspondence in this context. This is followed by a transcript of the correspondence ordered by the correspondent's name. Each item is preceded by a biographical profile of the correspondent and accompanied by notes containing information and references to facilitate understanding. The book will be found useful not only by science historians but also by all those - in particular, biomathematicians and biologists - with an interest in the origins of and events in a branch of learning that has undergone an astonishing development. Many of the problems discussed - in particular that of empirical verification - appear extremely topical even today and in some cases could even fuel reflection on topics still open to research.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The present book is an exhaustive collection of the correspondence between Vito Volterra and numerous scientists on the topic of Mathematical Biology. At the end of the book seventeen pages of very useful references are given. The book is useful to those who are working in the field of Mathematical Biology as well as History of Mathematical Biology."

—Zentralblatt Math

"We first meet Volterra on the front cover of the book under review. There he is: a magnificent, full-bearded and moustached figure in full academic regalia, shown perhaps in his mid-fifties. Vito Volterra, 1860–1940, professor at the University of Rome, president of the renowned Accademia dei Lincei, member of the Royal Society, recipient of other honors too numerous to mention, scion of an Italian Jewish family whose genealogy has been traced back to the early 1400s. A crater on the Moon has been named after him.... Reading the letters [in the book]...gives an idea of Volterra's extensive scientific contacts. More importantly, it gives an idea of the birth pangs of a relatively new and problematic application of mathematics. You will get whiffs of the struggles between the deterministic and the probabilistic approaches; between continuous and discrete models; among models in either category; between holistic (empirical and experimental) and mathematical approaches; between closed-form solutions and numerical solutions; between the qualitative and the quantitative. You will also read about the struggle between the realists and the idealists as regards what the goal of inquiry should be. Gasca's [54-page] introduction [to the book and history of the early (1920s and 30s) development of population dynamics] fleshes out these various antagonisms."

—SIAM News

Product Details

• Hardcover: 414 pages
• Publisher: Birkhäuser Basel; 1 edition (March 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3764365145
• ISBN-13: 978-3764365141
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,131,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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