Francesco Faà di Bruno

Faà di Bruno was born in Alessandria, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, on 29 March 1825. He was of noble birth, being the twelfth and youngest child of the Marchese Luigi Faà di Bruno and the Lady Carolina Sappa de' Milanesi. He was raised in a home marked by happiness, the arts and a concern for the poor arising from the parents' strong Catholic faith.[2]

As a young man, he entered the Royal Army and held, at one time, the rank of Staff Officer. He resigned his commission, and went to Paris, where he did doctoral studies in mathematics under Augustin Cauchy, and Urbain Le Verrier, who both shared in the discovery of the planet Neptune.[3] He was in close contact with the mathematicians François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno and Charles Hermite.

On his return to Turin, he took up the position of Professor of Mathematics at the local university. In recognition of his achievements as a mathematician, the degree of Doctor of Science was conferred on him by the Universities of Paris and Turin.[3]

While carrying out his career responsibilities, Faà di Bruno also became actively involved in the social outreach to the poor being developed by leading figures of the Catholic Church in Turin. He became a close friend of John Bosco,[4] and helped establish refuges for the elderly and the poor. He oversaw the construction of a church in Turin, Our Lady of Suffrage.[5]

Somewhat late in his life, Faà di Bruno came to feel that pursuing Holy Orders would help him in his religious activities, and commenced the necessary studies in theology. What he found, however, was that the Archbishop of Turin at that time would not accept an older man for ordination, Faà di Bruno being in his late 40s at that time. For centuries, the traditional route for this profession began in a boy's mid-teens.

Faà di Bruno appealed to Pope Pius IX and received his support, finally being ordained at age 51. He founded the Minim Sisters of St. Zita in 1881 to provide help for maids and domestic servants, later expanding its outreach to include others, such as unmarried mothers. With their help, he also established another refuge, one dedicated to taking in prostitutes.

Faà di Bruno died in Turin on 27 March 1888.

The cause for the canonization of Faà di Bruno opened in the early 20th century by the Archdiocese of Turin and he was declared a Servant of God. He was declared Venerable by Pope Paul VI in 1971, and beatified by Pope John Paul II on the centennial of his death in 1988.[1]

In an address to the Minim Sisters in 2002, Pope John Paul II said, ""Francesco Faà di Bruno", I said, is "a giant of faith and charity", for his message of light and love, "far from being exhausted, seems timelier than ever, urging all those who have Gospel values at heart to action"" (Homily, 25 September, n. 4; ORE, 24 October 1988, p. 15).[5]

• Brigaglia, Aldo (2004), "L'Opera Matematica", in Giacardi, Livia (ed.), Francesco Faà di Bruno. Ricerca scientifica insegnamento e divulgazione [Francesco Faà di Bruno. Scientific research teaching and popularization], Studi e fonti per la storia dell'Università di Torino (in Italian), XII, Torino: Deputazione Subalpina di Storia Patria, pp. 111–171. "The mathematical work" is an essay on the mathematical activity, describing both his research and teaching, of Francesco Faà di Bruno.
• Giacardi, Livia, ed. (2004), Francesco Faà di Bruno. Ricerca scientifica insegnamento e divulgazione [Francesco Faà di Bruno. Scientific research teaching and popularization], Studi e fonti per la storia dell'Università di Torino (in Italian), XII, Torino: Deputazione Subalpina di Storia Patria, p. 671. This is a collection of essays, including original documents, related to Francesco Faà di Bruno's scientific work, including his teaching and engineering activity.
• Giacardi, Livia, ed. (2005), L'opera matematica di Francesco Faà di Bruno in Cd-Rom [The Mathematical Works of Francesco Faà di Bruno in Cd-Rom], Collana CD-ROM del Dipartimento di Matematica dell'Università di Torino (in Italian, English, and French), Dipartimento di Matematica dell'Università di Torino, archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Faà di Bruno's "Opera omnia".
• Linehan, P. (1909), "Francesco Faa di Bruno", Catholic Encyclopedia, 5, New York: Robert Appleton Company, retrieved February 2, 2011. The original article in the Catholic Encyclopedia whose content was originally included in this entry.
• Solari, Patrizia (July 2007), "Beato Francesco Faà di Bruno" [Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno] (PDF), Caritas Insieme (in Italian), XXV (2): 40–44. This reference and the following one (part two) deal with aspects of the biography of Faà di Bruno other than his scientific achievements.
• Solari, Patrizia (April 2008), "Beato Francesco Faà di Bruno. Seconda parte." [Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno. Part two.] (PDF), Caritas Insieme (in Italian), XXVI (1): 44–47. This is part two of a biographical article about Francesco Faà di Bruno, concerning aspects of his life other than his scientific achievements.
• Tricomi, G. F. (1962), "Francesco Faà di Bruno", Matematici italiani del primo secolo dello stato unitario (Italian mathematicians of the first century of the unitary state), Memorie dell'Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. Classe di Scienze fisiche matematiche e naturali, series IV (in Italian), I, p. 120, Zbl 0132.24405, archived from the original on 2011-07-09, retrieved 2011-01-04CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Available from the website of the.
• Ufficio delle Celebrazioni Liturgiche del Sommo Pontefice (June 27, 2002), "Beatificazione 25 settembre 1988: Franciscus Faà Di Bruno", Beati e Santi del Pontificato di Giovanni Paolo II (in Italian), retrieved February 2, 2011. The date of his beatification as listed in the Vatican web site.

• Arbogast, L.F.A. (1800), Du calcul des derivations [Calculus of derivation] (in French), Strasbourg: Levrault, pp. xxiii+404. Entirely freely available from Google books.
• Craik, Alex D.D. (February 2005), "Prehistory of Faà di Bruno's Formula", American Mathematical Monthly, 112 (2): 217–234, doi:10.2307/30037410, JSTOR 30037410, MR 2121322, Zbl 1088.01008.
• Faà di Bruno, F. (1855), "Sullo sviluppo delle funzioni" [On the development of the functions], Annali di Scienze Matematiche e Fisiche (in Italian), 6: 479–480. A well-known paper where Francesco Faà di Bruno presents the two versions of the formula that now bears his name, published in the journal founded by Barnaba Tortolini. Available free from Google books.
• Faà di Bruno, F. (1857), "Note sur une nouvelle formule de calcul differential" [Note on a new formula of the differential calculus], The Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics (in French), 1: 359–360. Entirely freely available from Google books.
• Faà di Bruno, Francesco (1859), Théorie générale de l'élimination [General theory of elimination] (in French), Paris: Leiber et Faraguet, pp. x+224. Entirely freely available from Google books.
• Faà de Bruno, F. (1876), Théorie des formes binaires [theory of binary forms] (in French), Turin: Librairie Brero, pp. XVI+358, JFM 08.0056.02, archived from the original on 2016-08-09. One of Faà di Bruno most important work, highly praised by Paul Gordan (see his letter to Faà di Bruno at page V).
• Johnson, Warren P. (March 2002), "The Curious History of Faà di Bruno's Formula" (PDF), American Mathematical Monthly, 109 (3): 217–234, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.109.4135, doi:10.2307/2695352, JSTOR 2695352, MR 1903577, Zbl 1024.01010.