Two of C. Segre's earliest papers dealt with the theory of quadratic line complexes, a central topic in line geometry. The first was written together with his friend Gino Loria, but both papers were submitted to Felix Klein in 1883 for publication in Mathematische Annalen. These papers, together, with the two lengthier ones that comprise Segre's dissertation, took up a topic that Klein had worked on a decade earlier (when he was known primarily as an expert on line geometry). Using similar ideas but a new and freer approach to higher-dimensional geometry, Segre not only refined and widened this earlier work but also gave it a new direction. Line geometry, as well described by Alessandro Terracini in his obituary for his mentor, proved to be an excellent starting point for both Segre and Italian algebraic geometry.



Essential Bibliography

C. Segre, G. Loria 1884, Sur les différentes espèces de complexes du 2^éme degré de droites, qui coupent harmoniquement deux surfaces du 2^éme ordre, Mathematische Annalen XXIII, pp. 213-234.
C. Segre 1884, Note sur les complexes quadratiques dont la surface singulière est une surface du 2^éme dégré double, Mathematische Annalen XXIII, pp. 235-243.
C. Segre 1884, Studio sulle quadriche in uno spazio lineare ad un numero qualunque di dimensioni, Memorie della Accademia delle scienze di Torino, (2) XXXVI, pp. 3-86.
C. Segre 1884, Sulla geometria della retta e delle sue serie quadratiche, Memorie della Accademia delle scienze di Torino, (2) XXXVI, pp. 87-157.
A. Terracini 1826, Corrado Segre (1863-1924), Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung, 35, 1926, pp. 209-250.