Calculus Of Variations: Topics From The Mathematical Heritage Of Ennio De Giorgi

As soon as the project of the publication of a volume dedicated to the memory of Ennio De Giorgi was conceived, two things appeared immediately to be quite clear, trying to keep the volume in a reasonable size. One was the impossibility to cover the whole range of De Giorgi’s mathematical interests, the other one the impossibility to ask of a significant number of his pupils and friends to contribute to the volume. Too large has been the spectrum of the topics where De Giorgi gave important contributions, from partial differential equations and the calculus of variations to functional analysis, (geometric) measure theory, differential geometry, up to the foundations of mathematics, not to mention other fields where his point of view had some influence, though (strictly speaking) he gave no personal contribution, such as probability theory, mathematical physics, numerical analysis.