Luisa Torsi (born 1964) is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

who is a professor at the Università degli Studi di Bari. She was the first woman to serve as President of the

European Materials Research Society European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

(E-MRS). In 2019 she was named by the

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...

as one of the world's most Distinguished Women in Chemistry.

Early life and education

Torsi was born in

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

. She earned her undergraduate degree in physics at the

University of Bari The University of Bari Aldo Moro ( it, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro) is a state-supported higher education institution founded in 1925 in Bari, Apulia, in Southern Italy. The university is one of the most prestigious universities in ...

. Torsi has said that she realised that she wanted to be a researcher during her master's research project. She remained there for her graduate studies, switching specialties to chemical sciences. In 1994 Torsi moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, where she joined

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

as a postdoctoral researcher. During her postdoctoral research Torsi investigated

organic field-effect transistors An organic field-effect transistor (OFET) is a field-effect transistor using an organic semiconductor in its channel. OFETs can be prepared either by vacuum evaporation of small molecules, by solution-casting of polymers or small molecules, or ...

Research and career

She returned to Italy in 1993, when she was made Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. In 2005 Torsi was made a full Professor of Chemistry. Her research considers

organic semiconductor Organic semiconductors are solids whose building blocks are pi-bonded molecules or polymers made up by carbon and hydrogen atoms and – at times – heteroatoms such as nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. They exist in the form of molecular crystals or ...

s and their application in electronic devices. She has developed single molecule transistors that are capable of label-free disease detection. The device was capable of detecting

zeptomolar Molar concentration (also called molarity, amount concentration or substance concentration) is a measure of the concentration of a chemical species, in particular of a solute in a solution, in terms of amount of substance per unit volume of solu ...

concentrations. The discovery launched the

Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europea ...

project SiMBiT, a bio-electronic system that looks to achieve single molecule detection of biomarkers for point-of-care testing. Torsi looks to use nanoparticle based sensor to detect toxic gases. In 2015 Torsi delivered a

TED talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

at TEDxBari, where she discussed resilience. Torsi serves on the editorial board of ACS Omega.

Awards and honours

* 2010 Henrick Emmanuel Merck international award * 2015 Global-Women Inventors and Innovators Network Platinum Prize * 2016 Elected President of the

* 2017 Elected Fellow of the

Materials Research Society The Materials Research Society (MRS) is a non-profit, professional organization for materials researchers, scientists and engineers. Established in 1973, MRS is a member-driven organization of approximately 14,000 materials researchers from academi ...

* 2018

Italian Chemical Society The Italian Chemical Society ( it, Società Chimica Italiana) is the national association in Italy representing the chemical sciences. Its main aim is to promote and support the development of chemistry and scientific research, spreading the knowle ...

SCI Silver Medal * 2019 Alto Riconoscimento "Virtù e Conoscenza" * 2019

European Chemical Society The European Chemical Society (EuChemS) is a European non-profit organisation which promotes collaboration between non-profit scientific and technical societies in the field of chemistry.Dr. John V. Holder, ''The European Association for Chemica ...

Robert Kellner Lecturer * 2019 Elected to the Board of Directors of the Leonardo Foundation * 2021

Wilhelm Exner Medal The Wilhelm Exner Medal has been awarded by the Austrian Industry Association, (ÖGV), for excellence in research and science since 1921. The medal is dedicated to Wilhelm Exner (1840–1931), former president of the Association, who initialized ...

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torsi, Luisa 1964 births Living people University of Bari alumni Academic staff of the University of Bari 20th-century Italian chemists Scientists at Bell Labs Organic semiconductors