Guido Ascoli e il ruolo della matematica nella società contemporanea. Un’inchiesta dei primi anni Cinquanta del Novecento

At the end of the Second World War, a new and important phase of innovation of mathematics education began. The Cold War and the consequent atmosphere of tension between countries stimulated interest in science and fostered the birth of specific projects aimed at both research and teaching. New research perspectives opened with the introduction of the first electronic computers, and mathematicians, under the impetus of new problems, were encouraged to refine their methods and create new ones. In this context, the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction proposed at the end of 1952 an inquiry among the various member countries on the role of mathematics and the mathematician in contemporary society. The president of the Italian subcommittee Guido Ascoli (Livorno, 1887 - Turin, 1957), professor at the University of Turin, was responsible for preparing and distributing the questionnaires in Italy among university and industry researchers (mathematicians, chemists, physicists, etc.), and to present the results.