Is it true that the Spanish mathematician Walmes was burned by the Inquisition for solving the fourth degree equations?

According to replicated information, the scientist, informing the great inquisitor Torquemade about his discovery, was in prison, and then was executed. We checked whether such a story took place in reality.

Here's what the Soviet magazine reported "Technique - youth " In 1971: “The fourth degree equation of the Middle Ages declared the secret of God, which is inaccessible to the human mind. In 1486, in the city of Toledo (Spain), a mathematician Paolo Walmes met his friends with the great inquisitor Torquemada, who was also a fan of mathematics. It was about the solution of an equation of the fourth degree. When Valmes said that he decided this equation in a very simple way, Torquemada did not object to him, but that night Valmes was thrown into the dungeon of the Inquisition for "the fight against divine will", and a week later he was burned at the stake, not having time to inform anyone of his discovery. This is only one of many cases of brutal reprisal of the church with advanced scientists. ”

This information has been widespread in a variety of literature, from popular science to methodological. In particular, the unenviable fate of the mathematician Valmes can be found in the books of the prominent Soviet popularizer of science Ivan Depman "From the history of mathematics" (1950), "Stories about mathematics" (1954), "Stories about the old and new algebra" (1967), as well as in the works of other authors: "Cybernetics and life" (1968), "Religion in history and culture" (1995) and "At the intersections of the universe" (1997). Wrote about her and in magazines "The world of adventure" (1926), "Science and religion" (1973), "Popular education" (1980), "Mathematics at school" (1981), "Mathematics. Everything for the teacher " (2010) and "Mathematics" (2015).

Nowadays, information is found in benefits used in Russian universities "Philosophical issues of science and technology" And "History of mathematics", on popular educational portals "Multier", "Infoar", "Pedagogical council", "Lesson.rf", "Riddle", "Pig a case of lessons" (where tasks and manuals are usually laid out by teachers themselves), as well as on sites secondary schools and in scientific works.

They know about Walmas in the West, including thanks to such works as the book of Peter Bekman "History of the number of pi" (1970), and various works on History of mathematics.

The fourth degree equation in mathematics is the algebraic equation of the species:

Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel in the 19th century provedthat 4 is the maximum degree of equation, for which there is a solution in radicals in general (that is, with any values ​​of the coefficients). That before the decision of this type of equation, ancient Indian scientists fought over the receipt of the formulas, then in the 16th century Lodovico Ferrari was able Remove The task of solving the cubic equation, and in 1545, his teacher Jerolamo Kardano, who owned the secret of this decision, published both conclusions in his work Ars Magna ("Great Art"). However, modern scientists inclined To the version that the decision for incomplete cubic equations was the first to find the senior contemporary of Cardano-Scipio Del Ferro, then the Cardano recognized the secret of the decision, in his own words, and already from the latter, and already from the latter, and already from the latter.

So, judging by the year appearing in history, Paolo Walmes, reached us his decision, would have every reason to be considered the author of the first formula for finding the roots of the fourth degree equation. However, for starters, I would like to understand what we know about this mathematics. There is no page dedicated to him in any language version of Wikipedia, at least a short biographical essay about it is not on any mathematical site. Moreover, among almost two hundred owners of the name Paolo in the corresponding list There is only one English Wikipedia - by nationality, a Spaniard, since the name is an original Italian. And yet, after long searches, you can come to the next curious documentFor some reason posted on the website of the National Library of US Medicine. It is a correspondence of the powerful inquisitor of Thomas Torquemada with Pope Innocent VIII. In one of the letters (judging by the previous correspondence, it was written in 1489) Torquemada reports: “As you remember, at the beginning of this year I burned at the fire of the mathematician Valmes. He claimed that the equation of the fourth degree decided. I informed him that, by the will of God, this decision should be inaccessible to human understanding. ”

However, attentive reading of the entire correspondence convinces us that we have nothing more than a parody. So, the last letter was dated already 1984, and in it the dad asks the Inquisitor: “In the name of the Lord, stop!” And in the postscript says that this document is dedicated to QA sector workers (quality assurance).

Judging by numerous attributes, a wide circle of English -speaking readers, the story of Paolo Walmes became known thanks to the aforementioned book by the Czechoslovak emigrant Peter Bekman "History of the number of pi". As a source, Bekman points out the book of Ivan Depman, who was well familiar to the Soviet reader, “Tales of Mathematics”, and in the notes writes: “For the sake of justice, he should add that he has not found mention of this event somewhere else and that Soviet books are unreliable where the issue of religious competition is addressed.”

This was in 1970, and two dozen years later to the editors of the American Mathematical Monthly, the most read by the mathematical magazine in the world, came letter From one of the California readers:

“By profession, I am a programmer engineer and, alas, only an amateur in the issue of the history of mathematics. As you probably know, a significant number of Latin American residents live in California. During the training, some high school students asked me whether the famous Spanish-speaking mathematician ever existed. This topic seemed to me vaguely familiar, and I managed to find the book that I read a few years ago. Peter Bekman, now an honorary professor of engineering in Colorado, wrote the story of the number of pi and mentioned the Spanish mathematics of the 15th century named Valmes. It seems like Valmes was burned at the stake Thomas Torquemada in 1486 for claiming that he decided a general equation of the fourth degree.

In addition to the example of the Spanish mathematician, the story aroused interest in me. If Valmes really was ahead of the decision of the fourth degree published by Lodovico Ferrari by about 50 years, it would be fair for Valmes to receive a recognition for the feat that was worth his life. Even if Valmes’s decision were erroneous, it seemed to me that mathematics in debt to him. But I could not find mentions of the Walmas in any work on the history of mathematics or the Spanish Inquisition.

I wrote to Professor Beckman. He was very amiable and immediately replied that a Russian textbook called "Tales of Mathematics" of a certain Ivan J. Depman was the source of his story about Walm. Alas, there were neither bibliographic links, nor footnotes about the Walmage. The book was published in Leningrad "State Development" in 1954. The Soviet Consulate in San Francisco kindly provided me with the address of the State Development, and I sent a letter professionally translated into Russian there. I hoped that Depman, his editor or students were still alive. Unfortunately, there was no answer. I also wrote to Henry Kamimen through his publisher. I was told that he is an outstanding modern historian of the Spanish Inquisition.

Is there a Russian mathematical magazine whose editor and readers could shed light on Ivan Depman and its sources? In the same way - is there a Spanish mathematical magazine that I could contact? My last hope is that you can print a part or all my letter and one of my colleagues readers will be able to indicate that my problem has a well-known solution. ”

Unfortunately, the readers of the magazine failed to help their colleague. One of the mathematicians, a Spaniard by origin, confirmedThat the sources do not write about any Walmese, and the advanced algebra (Italian and German schools) reached Spain only in 1552 thanks to one German mathematics. On this, the story with the search for Valmas ended. However, she convinces us that the traces of legends lead to the Soviet Union. It would only be unfair to give all the dubious laurels in this matter the historian of mathematics Ivan Yakovlevich Depman. Indeed, almost a quarter of a century before his work, the legend was told in the aforementioned magazine “The World of Adventures”, and it integrated it into a mathematical task for readers:

The system of two square equations mentioned in the task has nothing to do with the well-known methods of solving the fourth degree equation and, apparently, has become part of a fictitious legendary problem. It seems that the author here killed two birds with one stone, simultaneously developing the theme of the confrontation of religion and science, so popular in the USSR. Unfortunately, the result was a legend in a fairly serious mathematical literature.

Image on the cover: Wikipedia.

Fake

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