Pietro Paoli

Pietro Paoli was an Italian mathematician, born on 2 March 1759 and dead on 21 February 1839. He studied at the Jesuit college of his birthplace, took a law degree at Pisa in 1778 though he preferred physics and mathematics, became professor at Mantua in 1780 and at Pavia in 1782, where he learned mathematics from Gregorio Fontana. In 1784 he took the chair of algebra at the University of Pisa, which he held until 1814, and his students included Gabrio Piola, Vincenzo Brunacci, Pietro Franchini and Antonio Bordoni. He worked mainly in calculus and its applications to optics and mechanics, and his main work, the two-volume Elementi di Algebra of 1794, was widely used in Italy for many years. He later became secretary of education of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.