Margherita Albina Beloch – later married Piazzolla – was born in Frascati on 12th July 1879 to Bella Bailey, an American, and Giulio, a professor of ancient history of German origin.

She enrolled in the Faculty of Mathematics in Rome and graduated in 1908 with a thesis on ‘Birectional Transformations in Space’, which was published the following year.

At first, he was a voluntary assistant to the analytical mathematics chair of Professor Guido Castelnuovo, who had been his lecturer. He was then assistant professor in Pavia and Palermo, until he obtained a professorship in 1924 and, in 1927, the chair of Geometry at the University of Ferrara, where he remained until his retirement in 1955.

Throughout his career, he was particularly concerned with the practical-applicative value of mathematics and geometry. One of his main areas of interest was photogrammetry. Specifically, his studies were used in the field of medical radiology, allowing enormous progress in obtaining images of organs inside the human body by means of x-rays.

Added to this was the invention of the ‘precisometer’, an instrument that allowed the synchronous taking of two radiograms, providing the exact image and position of even organs capable of involuntary movements, such as the heart. In 1938, the ‘precisometro’ was awarded the silver cup of the Ministry of National Education at the ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ Exhibition of Inventions.

In 1955, Margherita Beloch Piazzolla was awarded the title of professor emeritus, thus being able to dedicate herself to research and study even after her retirement.

He died in Rome on September 28, 1976.

You can consult thebirth certificate on the Ancestry Portal: State Archives of Rome, Italian Civil Status, Frascati, 1879

The original is kept at the State Archives of Rome.