Giancarlo Ghirardi (28 October 1935 – 1 June 2018) was an Italian

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and

emeritus professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

at the

University of Trieste The University of Trieste ( it, Università degli Studi di Trieste, or UniTS) is a public research university in Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. The university consists of 10 departments, boasts a wide and almos ...

. He is well known for the

Ghirardi–Rimini–Weber theory The Ghirardi–Rimini–Weber theory (GRW) is a spontaneous collapse theory in quantum mechanics, proposed in 1986 by Giancarlo Ghirardi, Alberto Rimini, and Tullio Weber. Measurement problem and spontaneous collapses Quantum mechanics has two fu ...

(GRW), which he proposed in 1985 together with Alberto Rimini and Tullio Weber, and for his contributions to the foundations of

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

. He independently rederived, in a referee report to ''Foundations of Physics'', the

no-cloning theorem In physics, the no-cloning theorem states that it is impossible to create an independent and identical copy of an arbitrary unknown quantum state, a statement which has profound implications in the field of quantum computing among others. The theore ...

, before the works by Wootters and Zurek and by Dieks in 1982, but after the actual first derivation by Park in 1970. His research interests related to a variety of topics of

, but focused beginning in 1983 mainly on the foundations of quantum mechanics. Ghirardi was a member of the editorial boards of ''

Foundations of Physics ''Foundations of Physics'' is a monthly journal "devoted to the conceptual bases and fundamental theories of modern physics and cosmology, emphasizing the logical, methodological, and philosophical premises of modern physical theories and procedur ...

'' and '' Studies in History and Philosophy of Science''. He was president of the Italian Society for the Foundations of Physics, of which he was one of the founding members. The President of the Province of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

, Maria Teresa Bassa Poropat, conferred the ''Sigillo della Provincia di Trieste'' to Giancarlo Ghirardi for research and teaching, for his commitment to the promotion and development of physics in Trieste and for his intense and fruitful activity as the author of popular books and scientific publications. In 2017, he was awarded the ''Spirit of Salam'' prize for his extraordinary contributions to the development of the

International Centre for Theoretical Physics The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is an international research institute for physical and mathematical sciences that operates under a tripartite agreement between the Italian Government, United Nations Educatio ...

during its budding years, both at its scientific and organizational fronts.

Books

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References

External links

GianCarlo Ghirardi
Editorial Team member page at '' Quanta''.
GianCarlo Ghirardi
at

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes ...

GianCarlo Ghirardi
The Information Philosopher
AIPS Honours Ghirardi

News from International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghirardi, Giancarlo 1935 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Italian physicists Theoretical physicists Quantum physicists Academic staff of the University of Trieste Scientists from Milan

See also

Books

References

External links