Ritratto di un antifascista. Il matematico Giulio Bisconcini

A brief description of a minor figure in Italian mathematics is given. A pupil of Tullio Levi Civita in Padua and later his assistant to the chair of Rational Mechanics in Rome, Giulio Bisconcini (1880-1969) did not make a career in the academic world, despite the esteem of his mentors and a promising work on the three-body problem published in 1906. He became a school professor, dedicating great effort to teaching and at the same time practising a lecturing post (libera docenza) at the University. He took part in the clandestine University organized in 1941-43 by Guido Castelnuovo for Jewish students, who were excluded by the racial laws from academic training. His anti-fascism makes him a clear example of peaceful resistance, consistently with his role as an intellectual and educator.