From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.science.mathematics.categories/1273 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: F W Lawvere Newsgroups: gmane.science.mathematics.categories Subject: Ugo Berni Canani Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 14:30:32 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Reply-To: wlawvere@ACSU.Buffalo.EDU NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1241017705 30440 80.91.229.2 (29 Apr 2009 15:08:25 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:08:25 +0000 (UTC) To: categories@mta.ca Original-X-From: cat-dist Wed Nov 10 12:52:27 1999 Original-Received: (from Majordom@localhost) by mailserv.mta.ca (8.9.3/8.9.3) id KAA03952 for categories-list; Wed, 10 Nov 1999 10:35:00 -0400 (AST) X-Authentication-Warning: mailserv.mta.ca: Majordom set sender to cat-dist@mta.ca using -f X-Received: from zent.mta.ca (zent.mta.ca [138.73.101.4]) by mailserv.mta.ca (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id PAA28574 for ; Tue, 9 Nov 1999 15:30:45 -0400 (AST) X-Received: FROM hercules.acsu.buffalo.edu BY zent.mta.ca ; Tue Nov 09 15:47:17 1999 X-Received: (qmail 1974 invoked by uid 39883); 9 Nov 1999 19:30:32 -0000 Original-Sender: cat-dist@mta.ca Precedence: bulk X-Keywords: X-UID: 16 Original-Lines: 47 Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.science.mathematics.categories:1273 Archived-At: It is with great regret that we have to inform you that our friend and colleague Ugo Berni Canani died recently in Rome, just after his sixtieth birthday. Those of you who met Ugo will remember his warmth and intelligence and breadth of learning. He was a justice of the Italian supreme court in the section charged with judging lower courts with respect to their uniformity of legal procedure (in Italy this section of the supreme court provides an additional avenue of appeal in that if a lower court decision is quashed by it, the case is tried again with regard to the facts by another lower court.) Ugo not only strove to compose the decisions of this court with the structure of mathematical theorems, but successfully took on the enormous task of designing and directing Italy's legal electronic database, which provides access to precedents from all the courts (this electronic system is considered by international experts to be the most advanced in the world). The classifying and organizing required by this database raised new practical and theoretical issues of linguistics and philosophy to which he applied his studies of mathematics. That work, as well as his lifelong interest in philosophy, inspired Ugo over the last twenty years to pursue research in category theory, in which he was co-author of several papers. He had dreamed of a future in which he could devote his time to categorical research. It is a great loss that his work has been cut short, but his inspiration to young Italian philosophers and mathematicians, and to his friends worldwide, lives on beside his polished legal documents and his legal database as part of his legacy. Ugo leaves us with the memory of a man gifted with lucid and penetrating intelligence, with many interests pursued with creativity, youthful curiosity, and simplicity. We will miss his enthusiasm, his tireless encouragement, and his warm friendship. Bill Lawvere and Steve Schanuel ***************************************************************** F. William Lawvere Mathematics Dept. SUNY wlawvere@acsu.buffalo.edu 106 Diefendorf Hall 716-829-2144 ext. 117 Buffalo, N.Y. 14214, USA *****************************************************************