Eduardo Renato Caianiello (June 25, 1921 – October 22, 1993) was an Italian

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 cau ...

. He contributed to scientific research, especially in

quantum theory Quantum theory may refer to: Science *Quantum mechanics, a major field of physics *Old quantum theory, predating modern quantum mechanics * Quantum field theory, an area of quantum mechanics that includes: ** Quantum electrodynamics ** Quantum ...

and cybernetics. He was also a pioneer in the theory of neural networks. His Caianiello's equation formalized the theory of

Hebbian learning Hebbian theory is a neuroscientific theory claiming that an increase in synaptic efficacy arises from a presynaptic cell's repeated and persistent stimulation of a postsynaptic cell. It is an attempt to explain synaptic plasticity, the adaptatio ...

. Caianello founded and directed the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

; the Laboratory of Cybernetics of the

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. ...

at Arco Felice (Naples), the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of the

University of Salerno The University of Salerno ( it, Università degli Studi di Salerno, UNISA) is a university located in Fisciano and in Baronissi, Italy. Its main campus is located in Fisciano while the Faculty of Medicine is located in Baronissi. It is organize ...

, the International Institute for Senior Scientific Studies (IIASS) at

Vietri sul Mare Vietri sul Mare ("Vietri on the Sea"; Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated just west of Salerno, separated from the Port of Salerno by only a harbour wall. The ...

(Salerno) and the School of Specialization in Cyber and Physical Sciences. The name of the

Hafnian In mathematics, the hafnian of an adjacency matrix of a graph is the number of perfect matchings in the graph. It was so named by Eduardo R. Caianiello "to mark the fruitful period of stay in Copenhagen (Hafnia in Latin)." The hafnian of a 2n\t ...

was coined by Cainaniello "to mark the fruitful period of stay in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

(Hafnia in Latin)."F. Guerra, in ''Imagination and Rigor: Essays on Eduardo R. Caianiello's Scientific Heritage'', edited by Settimo Termini, Springer Science & Business Media, 2006, page 98

References

20th-century Italian physicists Scientists from Naples 1921 births 1993 deaths Academic staff of the University of Salerno National Research Council (Italy) people {{Italy-physicist-stub