Guido Stampacchia

Guido Stampacchia
Guido Stampacchia in Tokyo, 1969 (photo from MFO)
Born	(1926-03-26)26 March 1926 Napoli
Died	27 April 1978(1978-04-27) (aged 52) Paris heart attack
Nationality	Italian

Guido Stampacchia (26 March 1922 – 27 April 1978) was a 20th-century Italian mathematician, known for his work on the theory of variational inequalities, the calculus of variation and the theory of elliptic partial differential equations.

Stampacchia was born in Naples, Italy from Emanuele Stampacchia and Giulia Campagnano. He obtained his high school certification from the Liceo-Ginnasio Giambattista Vico in Naples in classical subjects, although he showed stronger aptitude for mathematics and physics.

In 1940 he was admitted to the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa for undergraduate studies in pure mathematics. He was drafted in March 1943 but nevertheless managed to take examinations during the summer before joining the resistance movement against the Germans in the defense of Rome in September. He was discharged in June 1945.

In 1944 he won a scholarship to the University of Naples which allowed him to continue his studies. In the 1945-1946 academic year he declined a specialization at the Scuola Normale in the Faculty of Sciences in favour of an assistant position at the Istituto Universitario Navale. In 1949 he was appointed as assistant with tenure to the chair of mathematical analysis, and in 1951 he obtained his "Libera docenza". In 1952 won a national competition for the chair at the University of Palermo. He was nominated Professor on Probation at the University of Genoa later the same year and was promoted to full Professor in 1955.