Aldo Pontremoli (; 19 January 1896 – 25 May 1928) was an Italian physicist who held a chair of theoretical physics at the Physics Department of the

University of Milan The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe ...

from 1926 and who founded and directed the Institute of Advanced Physics at the

from 1924 until his disappearance and presumed death in May 1928. Pontremoli was one of the six men who disappeared with the airborne envelope of the

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

'' after it had crashed on the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

ice on 25 May 1928.

Education

Pontremoli was educated in a ''

liceo The Gran Teatre del Liceu (, English: Great Theatre of the Lyceum), known as ''El Liceu'', is an opera house in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Located in La Rambla, it is the oldest running theatre in Barcelona. Founded in 1837 at another loca ...

'' in Milan, where

Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti Temistocle Calzecchi Onesti (December 14, 1853 – November 25, 1922) was an Italian physicist and inventor born in Lapedona, Italy, where his father, Icilio Calzecchi, a medical doctor from nearby Monterubbiano, was temporarily working at the ...

was one of his teachers. After two years' further study at the

Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 186 ...

(Milan Polytechnic), he transferred to study physics at the Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza". His studies were interrupted when he volunteered for military service in

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 ...

. He received both the

Silver Medal of Military Valor The Silver Medal of Military Valor ( it, Medaglia d'argento al valor militare) is an Italian medal for gallantry. Italian medals for valor were first instituted by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia on 21 May 1793, with a gold medal, and, below it, ...

and the

Croce di Guerra The War Cross for Military Valor ( it, Croce di Guerra al Valor Militare) is an Italian order for military valor. Established in 1922, the cross may be awarded only in time of war. Appearance The medal is a Greek cross made of copper. Inscri ...

. When he was ten he founded with his cousin Mario Pontremoli a company named A.Pontremoli e Associati. He was the executive President, Mario was the vice-president and his grandfather, the banker

Luigi Luzzatti Luigi Luzzatti (11 March 1841 – 29 March 1927) was an Italian financier, political economist, social philosopher, and jurist. He served as the 20th prime minister of Italy between 1910 and 1911. Luzzatti came from a wealthy and cultured Jewis ...

was the honorary President. After resuming his studies in Rome and graduating in 1920 he became an assistant of Professor

Orso Mario Corbino Orso Mario Corbino (30 April 1876, Augusta – 23 January 1937, Rome) was an Italian physicist and politician. His younger brother was Epicarmo Corbino. He served as the minister for education in 1921 and as the minister for economy in 1921. H ...

. He then received a scholarship to study at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

where he worked in the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

under the direction of

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...

Academic career

In 1924 Pontremoli founded an institute of advanced physics at the

, which he continued to direct until his disappearance in 1928. In 1926 he was appointed to a newly created chair of theoretical physics assigned to the University of Milan (as were

Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and ...

in Rome and Enrico Persico in Florence). Pontremoli's research was primarily concerned theoretical physics, optics, nuclear physics and hydrodynamics. His successor in the chair of theoretical physics at Milan was Giovanni Polvani.

The ''Italia'' expedition

In 1928 Pontremoli joined the polar expedition of General

Umberto Nobile Umberto Nobile (; 21 January 1885 – 30 July 1978) was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships in the years between the two World Wars. He is primarily remembe ...

who was in command of the airship ''

''. Along with the Czech physicist František Běhounek, Pontremoli was responsible for taking measurements of the

Earth's magnetic field Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magnetic f ...

and

cosmic rays Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...

; most of the data they gathered were lost in the subsequent crash. On 25 May 1928, while attempting to return to its base at Ny-Ålesund, Spitzbergen from the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

, the airship crash landed on the ice. The force of the impact smashed open the control cabin leaving one dead and nine living members of the crew on the ice. After the crash, Pontremoli was observed on board the airship envelope, alive and conscious. The airship envelope, carrying Pontremoli and five other people drifted away. No trace of it or of those aboard has ever been found.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pontremoli, Aldo 1896 births 1928 deaths Explorers of the Arctic 20th-century Italian physicists Italian polar explorers Missing air passengers Scientists from Milan Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor Recipients of the War Cross for Military Valor Sapienza University of Rome alumni Academic staff of the University of Milan