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PHYSICAL SCIENCES & MATHEMATICS
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Friday, April 28, 2023
Giorgio Einaudi
Dept. of Physics, University of Pisa
Friday, February 17, 2023
#weareISSNAF Seminar Series
Claudio Pellegrini
Dept. of Physics, University of California Los Angeles
Moderator:
Emanuele Lugli
Hosts:
Consulate General of Italy of San Francisco, IIC of San Francisco, and ISSNAF Bay Area Chapter
Claudio Pellegrini was born in Rome and studied physics at “Università La Sapienza” where he received the Laurea Summa Cum Laude in 1958. He worked initially at Frascati National Laboratory in Italy and later at the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, CERN. In 1989 he joined the University of California, Los Angeles, where he is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus. After retiring from UCLA, he joined the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory as an Adjunct Professor of Photon Sciences. After an initial period working on high energy physics and general relativity his research concentrated on many body, collective and self-organization phenomena in particle beams and their applications to particle colliders for high energy physics and the generation of coherent X-ray radiation with free-electron lasers. Pellegrini’s work established the theoretical and experimental foundation of X-ray free-electron lasers, leading to their construction in the USA and worldwide, opening a new window to explore atomic and molecular science and producing breakthrough new advances in chemistry, physics, materials science and biology. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fulbright Fellow. He received the honors of “Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana”. He received the American Physical Society R.R. Robert Wilson Prize and the Free-electron Laser Prize. In 2015 he received from President Obama the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award “for pioneering research advancing understanding of relativistic electron beams and free-electron lasers, and for transformative discoveries profoundly impacting the successful development of the first hard x-ray free-electron laser, heralding a new era for science.” He is a member of the USA National Academy of Sciences.
In a 1954 paper “Galileo as a critic of the arts”, Irwin Panofsky wrote that the Florentine’s culture in which Galileo lived, his participation in the visual arts, literature and music communities that at the time made Florence a leading European intellectual center, nurtured his pioneering scientific work, an important step toward modern science and the exploration of the universe. Working with his father Vincenzio, part of the movement that revolutionized music and created opera at the end of the XVI century, the young Galileo was introduced to experimental studies of how the sound from a vibrating string depends on length, tension and mass. Following Panofsky we look at the similarity between Galileo’s scientific approach and his analysis and appreciation of art and literature and discuss how his knowledge of visual arts had a large impact on his observations of the Moon and Venus and the beginning of modern astronomy.
To watch the video, click here.
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Giulia Galli
Pritzker School and Dept. of Chemistry, Chicago University
Giulia Galli is the Liew Family Professor of Electronic Structure and Simulations in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago. She also holds a senior scientist position at Argonne National Laboratory, where she is a group leader and the director of the Midwest Integrated Center for Computational Materials. She is an expert in the development of theoretical and computational methods to predict and engineer material and molecular properties from first principles. Her research focuses on problems relevant to the development of sustainable energy sources and quantum technologies.
Prior to joining UChicago, she was professor of chemistry and physics at the University of California, Davis (2005-2013) and the head of the Quantum Simulations group at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL, 1998-2005). She holds a PhD in Physics from the International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy.
Prof. Galli is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, as well as a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Materials Research Society Theory Award, the American Physical Society David Adler Award in Materials Physics, the Feynman Nanotechnology Prize in Theory, the medal of the Schola Physica Romana and the Tomassoni-Chisesi award by La Sapienza University in Rome, Italy.
This interview was recorded when Prof. Galli was awarded the 2022 ISSNAF Lifetime Achievement Award.
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Interview:
Giulia Galli
Pritzker School and Dept. of Chemistry, Chicago University
Host:
Barbara Rosario
Giulia Galli is the Liew Family Professor of Electronic Structure and Simulations in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago. She also holds a senior scientist position at Argonne National Laboratory, where she is a group leader and the director of the Midwest Integrated Center for Computational Materials. She is an expert in the development of theoretical and computational methods to predict and engineer material and molecular properties from first principles. Her research focuses on problems relevant to the development of sustainable energy sources and quantum technologies.
Prior to joining UChicago, she was professor of chemistry and physics at the University of California, Davis (2005-2013) and the head of the Quantum Simulations group at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL, 1998-2005). She holds a PhD in Physics from the International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy.
Prof. Galli is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, as well as a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Materials Research Society Theory Award, the American Physical Society David Adler Award in Materials Physics, the Feynman Nanotechnology Prize in Theory, the medal of the Schola Physica Romana and the Tomassoni-Chisesi award by La Sapienza University in Rome, Italy.
This interview was recorded when Prof. Galli was awarded the 2022 ISSNAF Lifetime Achievement Award.
Monday, May 17, 2021
#weareISSNAF Seminar Series
Giorgio Bellettini
Dept. of Physics, University of Pisa
Moderator:
Paul Grannis
Host:
Consulate General of Italy in Chicago and Italian Cultural Institute in Chicago
Giorgio Bellettini is Honorary Professor of Physics at the University of Pisa, where he retired in 2009, and Guest Scientist at Fermilab. He has made experiments in particle physics at Frascati, at CERN, and since 1980 at Fermilab. Since 1981 he was spokesperson of the Italian groups in the Collider Detector Facility (CDF) and Co-spokesperson of the international CDF Collaboration at the time of the discovery of the top quark. He was Director of the Italian National Laboratories of Frascati, Chairman of the ISR Committee and Member of the Science Policy Committee of CERN.
He is an author of over 850 refereed publications in international science journals, where many important results are reported including the discovery of the increasing with energy total proton-proton cross section at the CERN ISR and the discovery of the top quark at the Fermilab Tevatron.
He is APS Fellow, Commendatore of the Italian Republic, and was honored with the Carlo Matteucci Medal by the Italian Academy of Sciences in 2006.
The Italian Factor at Fermilab
In conversation with Paul Grannis
A very significant outcome of the long-standing collaborative effort of Italians and North American nuclear physicists is the present deep involvement of Italians in the scientific and cultural life of Fermilab. Giorgio Bellettini reflects on a scientific career that started in the sixties, spanned two continents and was marked by a strong collaboration between American and Italian physicists, such as on the CDF experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, where over 100 Italian scientists participated. His deep, constant involvement with Americans shaped many significant events, including two important scientific discoveries. After the end of CDF data-taking ten years ago, the Italian INFN is participating strongly in new world-class experiments at Fermilab and is looking to play an important role in the exploration of neutrino physics, the field where Italians have been making important contributions and on which the Lab is betting for future fundamental discoveries. Additionally, the Cultural Association of Italians at Fermilab, created by Bellettini to enable Italian students to train in the USA and to spread the Italian language, music and culture in the US, is another aspect of his important legacy.
To watch the video, click here.
Saturday, March 6, 2021
#weareISSNAF Seminar Series
Giorgio Bellettini
Dept. of Physics, University of Pisa
Moderator:
Paul Grannis
Host:
Consulate General of Italy in Chicago and Italian Cultural Institute in Chicago
Giorgio Bellettini is Honorary Professor of Physics at the University of Pisa, where he retired in 2009, and Guest Scientist at Fermilab. He has made experiments in particle physics at Frascati, at CERN, and since 1980 at Fermilab. Since 1981 he was spokesperson of the Italian groups in the Collider Detector Facility (CDF) and Co-spokesperson of the international CDF Collaboration at the time of the discovery of the top quark. He was Director of the Italian National Laboratories of Frascati, Chairman of the ISR Committee and Member of the Science Policy Committee of CERN.
He is an author of over 850 refereed publications in international science journals, where many important results are reported including the discovery of the increasing with energy total proton-proton cross section at the CERN ISR and the discovery of the top quark at the Fermilab Tevatron.
He is APS Fellow, Commendatore of the Italian Republic, and was honored with the Carlo Matteucci Medal by the Italian Academy of Sciences in 2006.
The Italian Factor at Fermilab
In conversation with Paul Grannis
A very significant outcome of the long-standing collaborative effort of Italians and North American nuclear physicists is the present deep involvement of Italians in the scientific and cultural life of Fermilab. Giorgio Bellettini reflects on a scientific career that started in the sixties, spanned two continents and was marked by a strong collaboration between American and Italian physicists, such as on the CDF experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, where over 100 Italian scientists participated. His deep, constant involvement with Americans shaped many significant events, including two important scientific discoveries. After the end of CDF data-taking ten years ago, the Italian INFN is participating strongly in new world-class experiments at Fermilab and is looking to play an important role in the exploration of neutrino physics, the field where Italians have been making important contributions and on which the Lab is betting for future fundamental discoveries. Additionally, the Cultural Association of Italians at Fermilab, created by Bellettini to enable Italian students to train in the USA and to spread the Italian language, music and culture in the US, is another aspect of his important legacy.
To watch the video, click here.
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
#weareISSNAF Seminar Series
Claudio Pellegrini
Dept. of Physics, University of California Los Angeles
Moderator:
Emanuele Lugli
Hosts:
Consulate General of Italy of San Francisco, IIC of San Francisco, and ISSNAF Bay Area Chapter
Claudio Pellegrini was born in Rome and studied physics at “Università La Sapienza” where he received the Laurea Summa Cum Laude in 1958. He worked initially at Frascati National Laboratory in Italy and later at the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, CERN. In 1989 he joined the University of California, Los Angeles, where he is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus. After retiring from UCLA, he joined the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory as an Adjunct Professor of Photon Sciences. After an initial period working on high energy physics and general relativity his research concentrated on many body, collective and self-organization phenomena in particle beams and their applications to particle colliders for high energy physics and the generation of coherent X-ray radiation with free-electron lasers. Pellegrini’s work established the theoretical and experimental foundation of X-ray free-electron lasers, leading to their construction in the USA and worldwide, opening a new window to explore atomic and molecular science and producing breakthrough new advances in chemistry, physics, materials science and biology. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fulbright Fellow. He received the honors of “Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana”. He received the American Physical Society R.R. Robert Wilson Prize and the Free-electron Laser Prize. In 2015 he received from President Obama the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award “for pioneering research advancing understanding of relativistic electron beams and free-electron lasers, and for transformative discoveries profoundly impacting the successful development of the first hard x-ray free-electron laser, heralding a new era for science.” He is a member of the USA National Academy of Sciences.
In a 1954 paper “Galileo as a critic of the arts”, Irwin Panofsky wrote that the Florentine’s culture in which Galileo lived, his participation in the visual arts, literature and music communities that at the time made Florence a leading European intellectual center, nurtured his pioneering scientific work, an important step toward modern science and the exploration of the universe. Working with his father Vincenzio, part of the movement that revolutionized music and created opera at the end of the XVI century, the young Galileo was introduced to experimental studies of how the sound from a vibrating string depends on length, tension and mass. Following Panofsky we look at the similarity between Galileo’s scientific approach and his analysis and appreciation of art and literature and discuss how his knowledge of visual arts had a large impact on his observations of the Moon and Venus and the beginning of modern astronomy.
To watch the video, click here.
Monday, June 1, 2020
In memory of:
Roberto Peccei
University of California Los Angeles
Prof. Alexander Kusenko
Roberto Peccei (1942-2020) was an internationally renowned particle physicist. During his distinguished career at UCLA, he has served as a department Chair (1989-1993), Dean of Physical Sciences (1993-2001), and Vice Chancellor for Research (2000-2010), overseeing a significant expansion of UCLA research efforts and the advent of major institutes on campus.
Roberto Peccei (1942-2020) was a brilliant scientist, a natural leader, a thoughtful colleague, and a special friend. During his distinguished career at UCLA, he has served as a department Chair (1989-1993), Dean of Physical Sciences (1993-2001), and Vice Chancellor for Research (2000-2010), overseeing a significant expansion of UCLA research efforts and the advent of major institutes on campus.
Roberto Peccei was born in Torino, Italy in 1942. He was a son of Aurelio Peccei, an Italian industrialist and philanthropist, who was a member of the anti-fascist movement and the resistance during the World War II, then moved to Argentina to oversee Fiat operations in Latin America, and later founded the Club of Rome with the goal of addressing the multiple crises facing humanity and the planet. Roberto completed his secondary education in Argentina and came to the United States in 1958 as a student. He obtained a B.S. from MIT in 1962, M.S. from NYU in 1964, and a Ph.D. from the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics in 1969. After a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Washington, Dr. Peccei joined the faculty at Stanford University Physics Department (1971-1978), then moved to Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich, Germany (1978-1984), and later became the Head of Theory Group at one of the largest European laboratories, DESY in Hamburg (1987-1989). Professor Peccei joined UCLA in 1989, where he conducted research in theoretical physics and served in many administrative positions, including Vice Chancellor for Research. Professor Peccei had a very significant global presence; his service extended well beyond UCLA and included service on many national and international committees on science, as well as the Executive Committee of the Club or Rome.
One of the most famous scientific contributions, and an example of Roberto Peccei’s brilliant thinking is the celebrated Peccei-Quinn symmetry, proposed in collaboration with Helen Quinn. Interactions of elementary particles, as well as the very existence of matter in the universe depend on how different the world would be under the hypothetical action of flipping all particle charges and reflecting the world in a mirror. This mathematical transformation, called “CP” is closely related to flipping the arrow of time. Some physical processes are not invariant with respect to such a transformation, which, remarkably, allows for the dominance of matter over antimatter in the universe. However, if one considers only the strong interactions, which hold the nuclei together, the CP transformation leaves them invariant even though it requires an apparent conspiracy of some seemingly unrelated parameters (the vacuum “theta angle” and a phase coming from the mass parameters of quarks). Peccei and Quinn proposed a brilliant explanation based on a new symmetry of nature. This symmetry implies, in particular, the existence of a new particle which has not yet been discovered, but which has the potential to account for cosmological dark matter, that is, for most of the matter in the universe. Peccei-Quinn symmetry emerges in other areas of physics and has been studied by many scientists in a variety of contexts.
Roberto Peccei’s seminal and groundbreaking contributions have been recognized by numerous prizes and awards. He was particularly happy to receive the J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics awarded by the American Physical Society, of which he was a long-standing member and a Fellow, as well as Chair of Division of Particles and Fields. Roberto Peccei was also elected a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of Institute of Physics, UK. He was awarded the order of Commendatore in Italy, and a number of honorary professorships and lectureships. In 2016, Roberto Peccei became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Peccei was a passionate communicator of science, who enjoyed teaching graduate and undergraduate students at UCLA. In recent years, his course on the Physics of Energy served as a source of much needed knowledge and inspiration for his students and colleagues.
The memory of Roberto Peccei will continue to inspire his colleagues, postdocs and students.
Roberto Peccei is survived by his wife Jocelyn and their children Alessandra and Aurelio. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages friends of Roberto to make donations in his honor to UCLA Physics and Astronomy, as well as Parkinson’s Disease research at UCLA.
This memorial is published at UCLA Physics & Astronomy