Edoardo Amaldi | |
|---|---|
 Amaldi in 1960 | |
| Born | (1908-09-05)September 5, 1908 |
| Died | December 5, 1989(1989-12-05) (aged 81) |
| Alma mater | Sapienza University of Rome |
| Known for | neutrino |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Nuclear physics |
| Institutions | Sapienza University of Rome CERN |
Edoardo Amaldi (5 September 1908 – 5 December 1989) was an Italianphysicist. He coined the term "neutrino" in conversations withEnrico Fermi distinguishing it from the heavier "neutron". He has been described as "one of the leading nuclear physicists of the twentieth century."[1] He was involved in theanti-nuclear peace movement.[1]
Amaldi was born inCarpaneto Piacentino, the son ofUgo Amaldi, professor of mathematics at theUniversity of Padua, and Luisa Basini.[2][3][4][5]
Amaldi graduated under the supervision ofEnrico Fermi and was his main collaborator until 1938, when Fermi left Italy for the United States. In 1939, Amaldi was drafted into theRoyal Italian Army and returned to physics in 1941.
AfterWWII, Amaldi held the chair of "General Physics" at theSapienza University of Rome, rebuilt the post-Fermi school of physics, and was the co-founder of theItalian National Institute for Nuclear Physics and ofESRO. He was the general secretary ofCERN at its early stages when operations were still provisional, before September's 1954 official foundation.[6][7][8][9] He pioneered in Europe the search for gravitational waves.
His main scientific results were onslow neutrons in the Fermi group, and the evidence forantiproton annihilations with emulsion techniques, somewhat contemporary to its production in accelerators byEmilio Segrè and collaborators. Amaldi co-authored about 200 scientific publications ranging from atomic spectroscopy and nuclear physics to elementary particle physics and experimental gravitation, as well as textbooks for secondary schools and universities. He also wrote historical-scientific books; for example, a biography of his friendEttore Majorana who mysteriously disappeared. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of theSoviet Academy of Sciences in 1958,[10] an International Member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1961,[11] and both theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences and the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences in 1962.[12][13] In 1963 he became foreign member of theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[14] On 25 April 1968, he was elected as a Foreign Member of theRoyal Society.[15]
Amaldi died unexpectedly on 5 December 1989, still in full activity, while he was president of theAccademia dei Lincei, of which he had been a member since 1948.
The thirdAutomated Transfer Vehicle of theEuropean Space Agency borehis name,[16] so does asquare on the CERN site inMeyrin.
