All students of mathematics know of Peano's postulates for the natural numbers and his famous space-filling curve, yet their knowledge often stops there. Part of the reason is that there has not until now been a full-scale study of his life and works. This must surely be surprising, when one realizes the length of his academic career (over 50 years) and the extent of his publica­ tions (over 200) in a wide variety of fields, many of which had immediate and long-term effects on the development of modern mathematics. A study of his life seems long overdue. It appeared to me that the most likely person to write a biography of Peano would be his devoted disciple Ugo Cassina, with whom I studied at the University of Milan in 1957-58. I wrote to Professor Cassina on 29 October, 1963, inquiring if he planned to write the biography, and I offered him my assistance, since I hoped to return to Italy for a year. He replied on 28 November, 1963, suggesting that we collaborate, meaning by this that I would write the biography, in English, using his material and advice. I gladly agreed to this suggestion, but work on the project had hardly begun when Professor Cassina died unexpectedly on 5 October, 1964. I then decided to continue the project on my own. I spent the academic year 1966-67 in Turin; completion of the book took ten years.

Inhalt

1. Childhood.- 2. Student Years.- 3. University Assistant.- 4. Making a Career.- 5. Extraordinary Professor.- 6. The Formulario Project.- 7. Ordinary Professor.- 8. The Controversy With Volterra.- 9. The First International Congress of Mathematicians.- 10. Contact With Frege.- 11. Peano Acquires a Printing Press.- 12. The School of Peano.- 13. Paris, 1900.- 14. The Decline Begins.- 15. Latino Sine Flexione.- 16. The Cotton Workers' Strike.- 17. Completion of the Formulario.- 18. Academia pro Interlingua.- 19. Apostle of Interlingua.- 20. The War Years.- 21. The Postwar Years.- 22. The Toronto Congress.- 23. The Final Years.- 24. Afterwards.- 25. Summing Up.- Appendix 1. Peano's Professors.- Appendix 2. Members of the School of Peano.- Appendix 3. List of Papers by Other Authors Presented by Peano to the Academy of Sciences of Turin.- Chronological List of the Publications of Giuseppe Peano.- Index of the Publications of Giuseppe Peano.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.