Jacopo Riccati

Jacopo Francesco Riccati was a Venetian mathematician and jurist, born on 28 May 1676 to a noble family and dying on 15 April 1754, known for his influential work on solving differential equations and best known for studying the equation that bears his name. Educated at the Jesuit school in Brescia, he entered the University of Padua in 1693 and took a doctorate in law in 1696, and was encouraged by Stefano degli Angeli to turn to mathematical analysis. By 1710 he knew the ideas of differential and integral calculus. He introduced methods such as the separation of variables and lowering the order of an equation, corresponded with Euler and with Daniel and Nicholas Bernoulli, declined offers from Peter the Great and from Vienna and Padua to stay in Italy and study privately, and helped spread Newton's ideas there.