Nello Carrara (19 February 1900 – 5 June 1993) was an Italian physicist and founder of the Electromagnetic Wave Research Institute. He researched

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

s and was a pioneer of

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

, but is best known for coining the term "

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ra ...

Biography

Nello Carrara was born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

on 19 February 1900. He graduated from high school in 1917, and after serving in the Army during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, entered the

Scuola Normale Superiore The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (commonly known in Italy as "la Normale") is a public university in Pisa and Florence, Tuscany, Italy, currently attended by about 600 undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) students. It was founded in 1810 wi ...

in Pisa in 1918, where he studied

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. His fellow students included Enrico Fermi and Franco Rasetti. He wrote his doctoral thesis on X-ray diffraction in 1921. After graduation, he worked for the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

. At the age of 24, he became a professor at the

Italian Naval Academy The Italian Naval Academy (Italian: ''Accademia Navale'') is a coeducational military university in Livorno, which is responsible for the technical training of military officers of the Italian Navy. History The Hospitals The Hospital of St. James ...

, where he taught hundreds of Italian Marina Militare officers and academic researchers until 1954. While there he was involved with the development of radar, helping to create the first Italian RDT (Radio Detector Rangefinder), the continuous wave EC1 in 1936. He also taught 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 ...

from 1945 to 1946, and the University of Pisa from 1947 to 1950. Carrara founded the Electromagnetic Wave Research Institute in Florence in 1946. He became Professor of Naval Electromagnetic Waves at the Higher Institute of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in 1954, and moved to 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 ...

in 1956. In 1975 he became a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. He was also Director of the Center of Microwave National Research Council. As a researcher, he published over 100 works. In his paper on "The Detection of Microwaves" in 1932, he coined the common term "

". He was a consultant in various industries and co-founder and later president of SMA-Segnalamento Marittimo ed Aereo, which manufactured naval, aerial and terrestrial

equipment. He was also president of Selesmar, which specialised in commercial navigation radar and vice president of ISC, which provided space communications equipment. He received numerous awards, including being made a Grand Officer of 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 ...

and a knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. The IFAC Research Institute (''Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara"'') in Florence is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrara, Nello 20th-century Italian physicists 1900 births 1993 deaths Scientists from Florence University of Pisa alumni University of Florence faculty Knights of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Italian people of World War II Radar pioneers Grand Officers of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Italian military personnel of World War I

Biography

See also

References