Carlo Alberto Castigliano
Encyclopedia
Carlo Alberto Castigliano (9 November 1847, Asti
– 25 October 1884, Milan
) was an Italian
mathematician
and physicist
known for Castigliano's method
for determining displacements in a linear-elastic
system based on the partial derivative
s of strain energy
.
Alberto Castigliano moved from the region of his birth, Piedmont
in northwestern Italy, to the Technical Institute of Terni (in Umbria
) in 1866. After four years in Terni
, Castigliano moved north again, this time to become a student at the Polytechnic of Turin. After three years of study in Turin
he wrote a dissertation in 1873 entitled Intorno ai sistemi elastici for which he is famous. In his dissertation there appears a theorem which is now named after Castigliano. This is stated as:
After graduating from the Polytechnic of Turin, Castigliano was employed by the Northern Italian Railways. He headed the office responsible for artwork, maintenance and service and worked there until his death at an early age.
Asti
Asti is a city and comune of about 75,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River...
– 25 October 1884, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
) was an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
known for Castigliano's method
Castigliano's method
Castigliano's method, named for Carlo Alberto Castigliano, is a method for determining the displacements of a linear-elastic system based on the partial derivatives of the strain energy...
for determining displacements in a linear-elastic
Linear elasticity
Linear elasticity is the mathematical study of how solid objects deform and become internally stressed due to prescribed loading conditions. Linear elasticity models materials as continua. Linear elasticity is a simplification of the more general nonlinear theory of elasticity and is a branch of...
system based on the partial derivative
Partial derivative
In mathematics, a partial derivative of a function of several variables is its derivative with respect to one of those variables, with the others held constant...
s of strain energy
Strain energy
In a molecule, strain energy is released when the constituent atoms are allowed to rearrange themselves in a chemical reaction or a change of chemical conformation in a way that:* angle strain,* torsional strain,* ring strain and/or steric strain,...
.
Alberto Castigliano moved from the region of his birth, Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
in northwestern Italy, to the Technical Institute of Terni (in Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
) in 1866. After four years in Terni
Terni
Terni is a city in southern Umbria, central Italy, capital of the province of Terni, located in the plain of the Nera river. It is 104 km N of Rome, 36 km NW of Rieti, and 29 km S of Spoleto.-History:...
, Castigliano moved north again, this time to become a student at the Polytechnic of Turin. After three years of study in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
he wrote a dissertation in 1873 entitled Intorno ai sistemi elastici for which he is famous. In his dissertation there appears a theorem which is now named after Castigliano. This is stated as:
... the partial derivative of the strain energy, considered as a function of the applied forces acting on a linearly elastic structure, with respect to one of these forces, is equal to the displacement in the direction of the force of its point of application."
After graduating from the Polytechnic of Turin, Castigliano was employed by the Northern Italian Railways. He headed the office responsible for artwork, maintenance and service and worked there until his death at an early age.
External links
- Carlo Alberto Castigliano – a biography from the School of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of St Andrews, Scotland.
- B A Boley, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970-1990).
- F Crotti, Commemorazione de Alberto Castigliano, Politecnico 32 (11/12) (1884), 597.