Francesco Calogero (born 6 February 1935) is 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 ...

, active in the community of scientists concerned with

nuclear disarmament Nuclear disarmament is the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons. Its end state can also be a nuclear-weapons-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated. The term ''denuclearization'' is also used to describe the pro ...

Biography

Born on 6 February 1935, he is the son of the philosopher Guido Calogero. After his father was sentenced to ''national exile'' by

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

police, Francesco Calogero spent more than one year (1942) in Scanno, a small Italian village. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Calogero graduated "laurea in fisica" cum laude at

University of Rome La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

, in February 1958. He became Professor of Theoretical Physics, in the same university in 1976.

Physics research

Calogero's scientific publications in English include five books and over 400 papers (about half with co-authors). His main research concerns

integrable In mathematics, integrability is a property of certain dynamical systems. While there are several distinct formal definitions, informally speaking, an integrable system is a dynamical system with sufficiently many conserved quantities, or first ...

many-body The many-body problem is a general name for a vast category of physical problems pertaining to the properties of microscopic systems made of many interacting particles. Terminology ''Microscopic'' here implies that quantum mechanics has to be ...

problems. Several solvable many-body models and nonlinear evolution partial differential equations (PDEs) are named after Calogero in the mathematical physics literature, for example the

Calogero–Moser–Sutherland model Calogero–Moser–Sutherland models (short CMS models) are a type of integrable one-dimensional many-body systems, which can be studied with exact results both from the classical and quantum perspective. Such models describe pointlike particles ...

. He also formulated the Calogero conjecture that quantum behavior is caused by the stochastic component of the local gravitational field due to the chaotic component of the motion of all particles of the Universe due to their mutual gravitational interaction. He also introduced a novel differential algorithm to evaluate all the zeros of any generic polynomial of arbitrary degree . Calogero, “Novel differential algorithm to evaluate all the zeros of any generic polynomial”, J. Nonlinear Math. Phys. 24, 469-472 (2017). DOI: 10.1080/14029251.2017.1375685 For his profound contributions to the field of exactly solvable models in

statistical mechanics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applicati ...

and

many-body physics The many-body problem is a general name for a vast category of physical problems pertaining to the properties of microscopic systems made of many interacting particles. Terminology ''Microscopic'' here implies that quantum mechanics has to be ...

, Calogero was a co-recipient of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

's 2019

Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics is an award given each year since 1959 jointly by the American Physical Society and American Institute of Physics. It is established by the Heineman Foundation in honour of Dannie Heineman. As of 201 ...

, alongside T. Bill Sutherland and Michel Gaudin. In 2019 he accepted from the President of the Italian Republic

Sergio Mattarella Sergio Mattarella (; born 23 July 1941) is an Italian politician and jurist who has served as the president of Italy since 2015. He is the longest-serving president in the history of the Italian Republic. Since Giorgio Napolitano's death in 20 ...

the "Prize of the President of the Italian Republic", awarded in alternate years to a scientist and a humanist by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the main Italian Academy.

Peace activism

Calogero served as Secretary-General of

Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. It was fo ...

from 1989 to 1997, and from 1997 to 2002 as chair of the Pugwash Council, of which he still is an "ex-officio" member. He published (in Italian and English---some with co-authors) nearly 400 papers and several books on world affairs. He was a member of the Governing Board of the

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1966 and provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade a ...

from 1982 to 1992. He accepted on behalf of Pugwash the 1995

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

, jointly awarded to Pugwash and to

Joseph Rotblat Sir Joseph Rotblat (4 November 1908 – 31 August 2005) was a Polish and British physicist. During World War II he worked on Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project, but left the Los Alamos Laboratory on grounds of conscience after it became ...

(Oslo, 10 December 1995)..

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calogero, Francesco 1935 births Living people 20th-century Italian physicists Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs

Biography

Physics research

Peace activism

See also

References