Nicola Cabibbo | |
|---|---|
 Cabibbo in 2006 | |
| Born | (1935-04-10)10 April 1935 Rome, Italy |
| Died | 16 August 2010(2010-08-16) (aged 75) Rome, Italy |
| Alma mater | Sapienza University of Rome |
| Known for | Cabibbo angle |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Particle physics |
| Institutions | |
| Academic advisors | Bruno Touschek |
| Notable students | Giorgio Parisi |
Nicola Cabibbo (10 April 1935 – 16 August 2010) was an Italian physicist best known for his work on theweak interaction, particularly his introduction of theCabibbo angle. Interested in science from a young age, he studied physics at theSapienza University of Rome, graduating in 1958 with a thesis completed underBruno Touschek.
Nicola Cabibbo was born on 10 April 1935 inRome, Italy toSilician parents; his father, Emanuele, was a lawyer and his mother was a housewife.[1] He was interested in mathematics, physics and astronomy from an early age, and built his own radios.[2] Despite growing up duringWorld War II, his elementary school education ran uninterrupted, and he subsequently attended theLiceo Torquato Tasso.[2][3] There, a textbook titledWhat Is Mathematics? sparked Cabibbo's interest in pursuing scientific studies.[3]
After the end of the war, Cabibbo also developed an interest inAmerican literature and often frequented the library of theUnited States embassy to read and borrow books.[4] His favourite authors wereErnest Hemingway,Theodore Dreiser andHerman Melville,[4] but he also enjoyed science fiction and books on arctic expeditions.[1]
Cabibbo enrolled at theSapienza University of Rome in 1952 and graduated with a degree in physics in 1958.[5] His thesis, which focused onweak interactions andmuon decay, was completed under the supervision ofBruno Touschek and was done in collaboration with fellow studentsFrancesco Calogero and Paolo Guidoni.[2]
After graduating, Cabibbo began working for the Rome Division of theIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. Two years later, in 1960, he was hired at theLaboratori Nazionali di Frascati, becoming the first theoretical physicist stationed there.[a][5]
In 1963, while working atCERN, Cabibbo found the solution to the puzzle of the weak decays of strange particles, formulating what came to be known as Cabibbo universality. In 1967 Nicola settled back in Rome where he taught theoretical physics and created a large school. He was president of theINFN from 1983 to 1992, during which time theGran Sasso Laboratory was inaugurated. He was also president of the Italian energy agency,ENEA, from 1993 to 1998, and was president of thePontifical Academy of Sciences from 1993 until his death.[6] In 2004, Cabibbo spent a year atCERN as guest professor, joining theNA48/2 collaboration.[7]
Cabibbo's major work on theweak interaction originated from a need to explain two observed phenomena:
Cabibbo addressed these issues, followingMurray Gell-Mann and Maurice Lévy, by postulatingweak universality, which involves a similarity in the weak interactioncoupling strength between different generations of particles. He addressed the second issue with amixing angleθC (now[8] called theCabibbo angle), between the down and strange quarks. Modern measurements show thatθC = 13.04°.
Before the discovery of the thirdgeneration of quarks, this work was extended byMakoto Kobayashi andToshihide Maskawa to theCabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa matrix. In 2008, Kobayashi and Maskawa shared one half of theNobel Prize in Physics for their work. Some physicists had bitter feelings that the Nobel Prize committee failed to reward Cabibbo for his vital part.[9][10][11] Asked for a reaction on the prize, Cabibbo preferred to give no comment. According to sources close to him, however, he was embittered.[12]
Later, Cabibbo researched applications ofsupercomputers to address problems in modern physics with the experimentsAPE 100 andAPE 1000.
Cabibbo supported attempts to rehabilitate executed Italian philosopherGiordano Bruno, citing the apologies onGalileo Galilei as a possible model to correct the historical wrongs done by the Church.[13]
After his death in 2011, theFranklin Institute awarded him with theBenjamin Franklin Medal in Physics.[14]
In 1962, Cabibbo married Paola Iandolo, who became a professor of North American literature at theUniversity of Salerno and then of American Literature at theSapienza University of Rome.[2][15] The couple had one son, Andrea, who was born in 1966 and is amolecular biologist.[1] Cabibbo died on August 16, 2010 at theFatebenefratelli Hospital inRome, at the age of 75, after having been admitted for arespiratory failure.[16] He had been suffering from a tumour for several years.[1]
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Data from Wikidata| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by | President of thePontifical Academy of Sciences 6 April 1993 – 16 August 2010 | Succeeded by |
