Lucia Votano (born 2 November 1947) is an Italian astroparticle physicist, and the first woman to direct the

Gran Sasso National Laboratory Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) is the largest underground research center in the world. Situated below Gran Sasso mountain in Italy, it is well known for particle physics research by the INFN. In addition to a surface portion of the ...

, from 2009 to 2012. Her research focuses on

neutrinos A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is a fermion (an elementary particle with spin of ) that interacts only via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass is ...

, and she was the coordinator of the

OPERA experiment The Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus (OPERA) was an instrument used in a scientific experiment for detecting tau neutrinos from muon neutrino oscillations. The experiment is a collaboration between CERN in Geneva, Switzerland ...

, that led to the first detection of tau neutrinos from muon neutrino

oscillation Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

Early life and education

Votano studied humanities at the Liceo Classico Tommaso Campanella in Reggio Calabria; later she obtained her degree in General Physics from the Sapienza University of Rome in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, graduating ''cum laude''. Her interest in science was fuelled in her young years by her father, a radiologist, who was passionate about scientific research and first narrated the discovery of DNA to her.

Life and career

Academic career

She started her career as a researcher of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics at the Frascati National Laboratory in 1976. She collaborated with research projects at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

, in particular the

ISR ISR may refer to: Organizations * Institute for Strategy and Reconciliation, a think tank, relief and development organization * Institutional and Scientific Relations, a Directorate of the European Commission * International Star Registry, a com ...

and the WA44 experiment. Between 1985 and 1998 she participated at the

ZEUS Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

experiment at the

DESY The Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (English ''German Electron Synchrotron''), commonly referred to by the abbreviation DESY, is a national research center in Germany. It operates particle accelerators used to investigate the structure of matt ...

research center in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In 1988, Votano became Senior Researcher and in 2000 she was promoted to Research Director. She covered the role of coordinator of the

, whose data collection started in 2006 and resulted in the detection of 5 tau neutrinos from muon neutrino

oscillations Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

. In 2009, the Board of Directors of the INFN appointed her as Director of the

; she was the first woman to cover this role, which she held until 2012, when she was succeeded by

Stefano Ragazzi Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ach ...

. Her reaction to the media coverage following the appointment to the prestigious role was two-fold: on one side she deemed it positive, as it highlighted the fact that "finally a woman had conquered a position at the top of the scientific leadership"; on the other hand it was negative, "because if that was the norm, he news of the appointmentwould not have caused any clamour". As of 2020, she is part of the 600 scientists currently working on

JUNO Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

, a neutrino experiment under construction in Southern China, which aims to begin acquiring data in 2021.

Publications

Votano authored or co-authored about 300 scientific publications in

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

journals. She is also the author of two books: * ''Il fantasma dell'universo'', Carocci Editore, 2015, * ''La via della seta. La fisica da Enrico Fermi alla Cina.'' Di Renzo Editore, 2017,

Honours and awards

* In 2009, she received the Minerva prize for scientific research. * In March 2010, she was awarded the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

by the Italian president,

Giorgio Napolitano Giorgio Napolitano (; born 29 June 1925) is an Italian politician who served as president of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first Italian president to be re-elected to the presidency. Due to his dominant position in Italian politics, some critics ...

. * In 2019, she became honorary member of the

Italian Physical Society The (SIF) or Italian Physical Society was founded in 1897 and 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 is associated with the journal series '' Nuo ...

.{{cite magazine, url = https://www.ilnuovosaggiatore.sif.it/download/60 , title = Il nuovo Saggiatore , page = 57 , volume=35 , issue=5–6 , language=italian

References

1947 births Italian women scientists Italian women physicists Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Living people