Notes on the correspondence between Luigi Cremona and Max Noether (Q1109757)

The present paper has two parts. Part 1 describes the beginning of the Italian school of algebraic geometry with the early work of Luigi Cremona (1830-1903), who was appointed to the chair of Higher Geometry at Bologna in 1860. An account of the scientific ``climate'' in Italy around 1860 is given. Part 2 is devoted to nine letters written by Max Noether (1844- 1921) to Luigi Cremona mainly in 1871. These letters belong to a large collection of letters addressed to Luigi Cremona, which was discovered in the library of the ``G. Castelnuovo'' Institute of Mathematics at Rome by \textit{G. Israel} and \textit{L. Nurzia} [cf. Hist. Math. 10, 93-97 (1983)]. Cremona's replies to Noether seem to be lost. Now the letters by Max Noether, which are studied here, indicate a remarkable coincidence of ideas and results of Cremona and Noether. But they also reveal points of disagreement and significant differences in approach between the two geometers. And these differences partly explain, why the schools of Cremona and of Brill and Noether developed in different directions.