Lines on the horizon: Hadamard and fréchet, readers of volterra

Abstract

This chapter provides a detailed examination of the manner in which elements drawn from a reading of Volterra’s work on the generalization of the concept of function and differential calculus became decisive for the research programs of first Hadamard and then Fréchet, and how this passing of the baton to a new generation marked a turning point in the evolution of studies on partial differential equations, and more broadly, for all of twentieth-century functional analysis.