Luciano Maiani (born 16 July 1941, in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
) is a
Sammarinese
Sammarinese () are citizens and people of the Republic of San Marino.
Language
San Marino recognizes Italian as the official language. The indigenous language, known as Sammarinese, is a variety of Romagnol spoken by approximately 83 percent o ...
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 caus ...
best known for his prediction of the
charm quark
The charm quark, charmed quark or c quark (from its symbol, c) is the third-most massive of all quarks, a type of elementary particle. Charm quarks are found in hadrons, which are subatomic particles made of quarks. Examples of hadrons containin ...
with
Sheldon Glashow
Sheldon Lee Glashow (, ; born December 5, 1932) is a Nobel Prize-winning American theoretical physicist. He is the Metcalf Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Boston University and Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at Harvard U ...
and
John Iliopoulos
John (Jean) Iliopoulos (Greek: Ιωάννης Ηλιόπουλος; 1940, Kalamata, Greece) is a Greek physicist. He is the first person to present the Standard Model of particle physics in a single report. He is best known for his prediction of ...
(the "
GIM mechanism In particle physics, the GIM mechanism (or Glashow–Iliopoulos–Maiani mechanism) is the mechanism through which flavour-changing neutral currents (FCNCs) are suppressed in loop diagrams. It also explains why weak interactions that change strang ...
").
Academic history
In 1964 Luciano Maiani received his degree in physics and he became a research associate at the
Istituto Superiore di Sanità
The ''Istituto Superiore di Sanità'' (Italian National Institute of Health, literally 'Higher Health Institute'), also ISS, is an Italian public institution that, as the leading technical-scientific body of the Italian National Health Service (' ...
in Italy.
During that same year he collaborated with
Raoul Gatto's 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 ...
group at the
University of Florence
The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled.
History
The first universi ...
.
He crossed the Atlantic in 1969 to do a post-doctoral fellowship at
Harvard's Lyman Laboratory of Physics.
In 1976 Maiani became a professor of theoretical physics at the
University of Rome,
however he traveled widely during this period, holding visiting professorships at the
Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris (1977)
and
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 ...
(1979–1980 and 1985–1986).
Maiani also took an interest in the direction of particle physics research start on CERN's Scientific Policy Committee from 1984 to 1991.
Then, in 1993, he became president of Italy's
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
The Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN; "National Institute for Nuclear Physics") is the coordinating institution for nuclear, particle, theoretical and astroparticle physics in Italy.
History
INFN was founded on 8 August 1951, to furt ...
(INFN).
From 1993 to 1996 Maiani served as a scientific delegate in CERN council and then as that
council's president in 1997.
Thereafter he became director general of CERN, serving from 1 January 1999 through the end of 2003. From 1995 to 1997 Maiani chaired the Italian Comitato Tecnico Scientifico, Fondo Ricerca Applicata. At the end of 2007 he was proposed as president of
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
The National Research Council (Italian: ''Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR'') is the largest research council in Italy. As a public organisation, its remit is to support scientific and technological research. Its headquarters are in Rome. ...
, but his nomination was suspended temporally after he signed a letter criticizing the rector of 'La Sapienza' University in Rome, who invited
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
to give a ''lectio magistralis'' in 2008. However he became the President of CNR since 2008.
Luciano Maiani ha
authored over 100 scientific publicationson the theory of elementary particles often with several co-authors. In 1970 he predicted the charmed quark in a paper with Glashow and Iliopoulos which was later discovered at
SLAC
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center,
is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S. Departm ...
and
Brookhaven in 1974 and led to a
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
for the discoverers. Working with
Guido Altarelli
Guido Altarelli (12 July 1941 – 30 September 2015) was an Italian theoretical physicist.
Biography
Altarelli graduated in Physics from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1963 with Raoul Gatto whom he followed to the University of Florence (196 ...
in 1974 they explained that the observed octet enhancement in weak non-leptonic decays was due to a leading gluon exchange effect in
quantum chromodynamics
In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons. Quarks are fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a type ...
. They later extended this effect to describe the
weak non-leptonic decays
Weak may refer to:
Songs
* "Weak" (AJR song), 2016
* "Weak" (Melanie C song), 2011
* "Weak" (SWV song), 1993
* "Weak" (Skunk Anansie song), 1995
* "Weak", a song by Seether from '' Seether: 2002-2013''
Television episodes
* "Weak" (''Fear t ...
of charm and
bottom quark
The bottom quark or b quark, also known as the beauty quark, is a third-generation heavy quark with a charge of − ''e''.
All quarks are described in a similar way by electroweak and quantum chromodynamics, but the bottom quark has exc ...
s as well and also produced a parton model description of heavy flavor weak decays. In 1976 Maiani analyzed the CP violation in the six-quark theory and predicted the very small electric dipole moment of the neutron. In the 1980s he started using the numerical simulation of lattice QCD and this led to the first prediction of the decay constant of pseudoscalar charmed mesons and of
B meson
In particle physics, B mesons are mesons composed of a bottom antiquark and either an up (), down (), strange () or charm quark (). The combination of a bottom antiquark and a top quark is not thought to be possible because of the top quark' ...
s. A proponent of
supersymmetry
In a supersymmetric theory the equations for force and the equations for matter are identical. In theoretical and mathematical physics, any theory with this property has the principle of supersymmetry (SUSY). Dozens of supersymmetric theories e ...
, Maiani once said that the search for it was "primary goal of modern particle physics".
He has not confined his interest to the theoretical side of physics either, with involvement in
ALPI Alpi may refer to:
* ALPI, an enzyme
* Alpi, the Italian word for the Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching a ...
,
EUROBALL,
DAFNE
''Dafne'' is the earliest known work that, by modern standards, could be considered an opera. The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini survives complete; the mostly lost music was completed by Jacopo Peri, but at least two of the six surviving fragment ...
,
VIRGO
Virgo may refer to:
*Virgo (astrology), the sixth astrological sign of the zodiac
*Virgo (constellation), a constellation
*Virgo Cluster, a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Virgo
*Virgo Stellar Stream, remains of a dwarf galaxy
*Virgo Supe ...
and the
LHC.
As of September 2020, he is a member of the Italian
Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. The institute's stated aim is the realization of "a free, just, and equitable society" through seminars, policy programs ...
.
executive Committee
aspeninstitute.it/
Awards
*1979 Matteucci Medal The Matteucci Medal is an Italian award for physicists, named after Carlo Matteucci from Forlì. It was established to award physicists for their fundamental contributions. Under an Italian Royal Decree dated July 10, 1870, the Italian Society of S ...
, Accademia Nazionale dei XL
*1987 Sakurai Prize
The J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, is presented by the American Physical Society at its annual April Meeting, and honors outstanding achievement in particle physics theory. The prize consists of a monetary award ($10,000 U ...
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 k ...
*1996 Doctor honoris causa, Université de la Méditerranée
The University of the Mediterranean Aix-Marseille II was a French university in the List of public universities in France by academy#Academy of Aix and Marseille, Academy of Aix and Marseille. Historically, it was part of the University of Aix-M ...
, Aix-Marseille
*2007 Dirac Medal
The Dirac Medal is the name of four awards in the field of theoretical physics, computational chemistry, and mathematics, awarded by different organizations, named in honour of Professor Paul Dirac, one of the great theoretical physicists of the 20 ...
, Abdus Salam 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 Education ...
, Trieste, Italy
*2010 Doctor honoris causa, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
The Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) (Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla) is the oldest and largest university in Puebla, Mexico. Founded on 15 April 1578 as Colegio del Espíritu Santo, the school was sponsored by the ...
, Puebla, México
*2013 Bruno Pontecorvo Prize
The Bruno Pontecorvo Prize (russian: Премия имени Бруно Понтекорво) is an award for elementary particle physics, established in 1995 by the JINR in Dubna to commemorate Bruno Pontecorvo. The prize is mainly given for neut ...
by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, russian: Объединённый институт ядерных исследований, ОИЯИ), in Dubna, Moscow Oblast (110 km north of Moscow), Russia, is an international research cen ...
, Dubna
Dubna ( rus, Дубна́, p=dʊbˈna) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It has a status of ''naukograd'' (i.e. town of science), being home to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, an international nuclear physics research center and one o ...
, Russia
See also
*GIM mechanism In particle physics, the GIM mechanism (or Glashow–Iliopoulos–Maiani mechanism) is the mechanism through which flavour-changing neutral currents (FCNCs) are suppressed in loop diagrams. It also explains why weak interactions that change strang ...
External links
Scientific publications of Luciano Maiani
on INSPIRE-HEP INSPIRE-HEP is an open access digital library for the field of high energy physics (HEP). It is the successor of the Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) database, the main literature database for high energy physics since the 1970 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maiani, Luciano
1941 births
People associated with CERN
Living people
Sammarinese physicists
Particle physicists
Experimental physicists
Experimental particle physics
Sapienza University of Rome faculty
Foreign Fellows of Pakistan Academy of Sciences
Theoretical physicists
Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics recipients
Recipients of the Matteucci Medal
National Research Council (Italy) people
Fellows of the American Physical Society