Ugo Napoleone Giuseppe Broggi

Ugo Napoleone Giuseppe Broggi (December 29, 1880, Como – November 23, 1965, Milan) was an Italian actuary, mathematician, philosopher, statistician, and mathematical economist.

Education and career Broggi studied in Italy and Germany, graduating in actuarial science in 1902 and in economic science in 1904.

In 1906 Hoepli Editore published Broggi's book Matematica Attuariale, which was translated into French as Traité des Assurances de la Vie (Hermann, 1907) and into German as Versicherungsmathematik (Teubner, 1911).

In 1907 he obtained his doctorate, with advisor David Hilbert, from the University of Göttingen with a thesis entitled "Die Axiome der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung" (The axioms of probability theory). Hilbert in his 1899 book Grundlagen der Geometrie (GdG) gave axioms for a modern treatment of Euclidean geometry. Influenced by GdG, Georg Bohlmann in 1901 gave axioms for probability theory. In 1904 at the University of Zürich, Rudolf Laemmel (1879–1962) published a doctoral dissertation Ermittlung von Wahrsheinlichkeiten, dealing with the axioms of probability. In 1905 Hilbert gave lectures on axiomatized probability theory based upon Bohlmann's work.

In 1907 Broggi received not only a doctorate in mathematics but also a doctorate in philosophy. "accurately discussed contemporary ideas on matter, radiation and time."

In 1910 Broggi moved to Argentina to become a professor of financial mathematics.

In 1928 he was invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Bologna.

Broggi was a book reviewer for Rivista di Scienza. For 20 years he was on the editorial board of the Giornale degli economisti e Annali di economia. He was also an editor for several other journals, including the Bollettino dell'associazione degli attuari italiani (Bulletin of the association of Italian actuaries) and the Rendiconti del Circolo Matematico di Palermo.

After the end of WW II, Broggi returned to Buenos Aires for a brief visit, during which his former students held a party in his honor.

Selected publications Matematica attuariale - Teoria statistica della mortalità. Matematica delle assicurazioni sulla vita, Hoepli, Milano, 1906 Die Axiome der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung, Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der hohen philosophischen Fakultät der Georg-Augusts-Universität zu Göttingen vorgelegt von Ugo Broggi, Göttingen, Druck der Dieterichschen Universitäts-Buchdruckerei, 1907 Sur le principe de la moyenne arithmetique, Paris, Gauthier Villars, 1909 Versicherungsmathematik: deutsche Ausgab, Leipzig Druck und Verlag, 1911 Analisis matematico: vol. I - Las nociones fundamentales, La Plata, 1919 Analisis matematico: vol. II - Teorias generales, funciones de mas de una variable, La Plata, 1927