Tito Arecchi (11 December 1933 – 15 February 2021) was an Italian physicist who made significant contributions to laser physics and

quantum optics Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum chemistry that studies the behavior of photons (individual quanta of light). It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons and their interaction ...

Biography

Arecchi graduated from the

Polytechnic University of Milan The Polytechnic University of Milan (, abbreviated as PoliMi) is a university in Milan, Italy. It is the largest technical university in the country, with about 40,000 enrolled students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate, and higher ...

in 1957 with a degree in electrical engineering. He became an assistant professor at the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

in 1963 and a physics professor at the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

in 1970. From 1975 until his retirement in 2008, he was a physics professor at the

University of Florence The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'') (in acronym UNIFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The f ...

. He also served as a guest professor at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

from 1969 to 1970 and was invited to

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

research laboratories in San Jose and

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Arecchi was President of the from 1975 to 2000. In 1995, he was awarded the

Max Born Award The Max Born Award is given by Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America) for ''outstanding contributions to physical optics'' and is named after Max Born, a physicist renowned for his foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and opt ...

The Optical Society Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America (later the Optical Society), is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and ca ...

. In 2006, the

Italian Physical Society The Italian Physical Society () is a non-profit organization whose aim is to promote, encourage, protect the study and the progress of physics in Italy and in the world. It was founded in 1897. It is associated with the journal series ''Nuovo Cime ...

awarded he and Giorgio Careri the Premio Enrico Fermi for their contributions to the study of radiation and matter. Arecchi died from a fall in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

on 15 February 2021, at the age of 87.

Articles

*''Instabilities and Chaos in Quantum Optics'' (1987) *''I simboli e la realtà'' (1990) *''Optical chaos (selected papers on)'' (1994) *''Lexicon of Complexity'' (1996) *''Determinismo e Complessità'' (2000) *''Caos e Complessità nel Vivente'' (2004) *''Coerenza, Complessità, Creatività'' (2007)

References

1933 births 2021 deaths Accidental deaths from falls 20th-century Italian physicists 21st-century Italian physicists Academics from Reggio Calabria {{Italy-physicist-stub