Umberto Colombo (1927 – 13 May 2006) was a Jewish-Italian chemical engineer, academic and the minister of universities, science and technology of Italy.

Early life and education

Colombo was born in 1927. He received a PhD in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical ...

from the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it on ...

. He was a Fulbright Fellow at

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

in the United States.

Career

Colombo trained as a chemical engineer and worked as a professor at 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 university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest uni ...

in the 1970s. He served as the president of the Italian energy firm

Eni Eni S.p.A. () is an Italian multinational energy company headquartered in Rome. Considered one of the seven " supermajor" oil companies in the world, it has operations in 69 countries with a market capitalization of US$54.08 billion, as of 11 ...

for a short period from November 1982 to January 1983 before being appointed as the head of the Italian nuclear energy unit. From 1993 to 1994 Colombo served as the minister of universities, science and technology in the

Ciampi cabinet The Ciampi Cabinet, led by the former Governor of the Bank of Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, was the 50th cabinet of the Italian Republic and the second and final cabinet of the XI Legislature. It held office from 29 April 1993 until 11 May 1994, a ...

. Following this he became a member of the Italian national council of economy and labour. He was one of the shareholders of Energy Conversion Devices and became a member of its board of directors in July 1995 before retiring in November 2004. Other posts that Colombo held included the chairman of ENEA (Italian national agency for new technology, energy and the environment; 1983-1993), president of the

European Science Foundation The European Science Foundation (ESF) is an association of 11 member organizations devoted to scientific research in 8 European countries. ESF is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation that promotes the highest quality science ...

(1991-1993), chairman of the Italian hydrocarbons trust, director general of Montedision's R&D and strategic planning, director of Montecatini's G. Donegani research centre, governor of the international development research centre (IDRC; 1985-1990) in Canada, chairman of the United Nations's advisory committee on science and technology for development (1984-1986), chairman of LEAD-Europe, and president of the European institute research management association. He was also a member of the

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy. It consists ...

's executive committee that had been founded by

Aurelio Peccei Aurelio Peccei (; 4 July 1908 – 14 March 1984), was an Italian industrialist and philanthropist, best known as co-founder with Alexander King and first president of the Club of Rome, an organisation which attracted considerable public attent ...

Works

In 1989, Colombo and fellow Italian scientist Francesco Scaramuzzi experimented with

nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles (neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifest ...

reporting that they had successfully created nuclear fusion at room temperature.

Awards

Colombo was the recipient of the Honda Foundation's award for ecotechnology in 1984. He was also awarded China's state international scientific and technological cooperation award in 1999.

Death

Colombo died in Rome on 13 May 2006 aged 78.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colombo, Umberto 20th-century Italian engineers 20th-century Italian Jews 20th-century Italian politicians 1927 births 2006 deaths Eni Jewish engineers Jewish Italian scientists Italian chemical engineers Italian corporate directors Government ministers of Italy Leaders of organizations University of Milan faculty University of Pavia alumni Independent politicians in Italy