Riccardo Giacconi Contents Biography Honors and awards References Further reading Navigation menuNobel prize citationBruce Medal page"Retrospective: Riccardo Giacconi (1931-2018)"10.1126/science.aaw530930679362"Obituary: Riccardo Giacconi (1931-2018)"10.1038/d41586-019-00216-8eeecb12278161n(data)58/37571281671730000 0001 0922 5618n80089661mub2016915100ITICCUCFIV60279240014w62r3v1z0315978078805147588051475

1931 births2018 deathsMembers of the United States National Academy of SciencesAmerican astronomersItalian emigrants to the United StatesJohns Hopkins University facultyNational Medal of Science laureatesNobel laureates in PhysicsItalian Nobel laureatesAmerican Nobel laureatesPeople from GenoaWolf Prize in Physics laureatesRecipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical SocietyWinners of the Dannie Heineman Prize for AstrophysicsUniversity of Milan alumni


Nobel PrizeastrophysicistX-ray astronomyJohns Hopkins UniversityGenoaLaureaUniversity of MilanastrophysicsFulbright FellowshipR. W. ThompsonIndiana UniversityUhuruEinstein ObservatoryChandra X-ray ObservatorySpace Telescope Science InstituteHubble Space TelescopeEuropean Southern ObservatoryVery Large TelescopeAssociated Universities, Inc.ALMANobel Prize in Physicscosmic X-ray sourcesMasatoshi KoshibaRaymond Davis, Jr.Johns Hopkins Universityprincipal investigatorNASAChandra X-ray Observatory


























Riccardo Giacconi

RiccardoGiacconi.jpg
National Medal of Science award ceremony, 2003

Born
(1931-10-06)6 October 1931

Genoa, Italy

Died9 December 2018(2018-12-09) (aged 87)

San Diego, California, U.S.

ResidenceUnited States
Nationality
Italy
United States
Alma materUniversity of Milan
Known forAstrophysics
AwardsElliott Cresson Medal (1980)
Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (1981)
Nobel Prize in Physics (2002)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
Institutions
Johns Hopkins University
Chandra X-ray Observatory
Doctoral advisor 
Doctoral students 

Riccardo Giacconi (October 6, 1931 – December 9, 2018) was an Italian-American Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist who laid down the foundations of X-ray astronomy. He was a professor at the Johns Hopkins University.




Contents





  • 1 Biography


  • 2 Honors and awards


  • 3 References


  • 4 Further reading




Biography


Born in Genoa, Italy, Giacconi received his Laurea from the University of Milan before moving to the US to pursue a career in astrophysics research. In 1956, his Fulbright Fellowship led him to go to the United States to collaborate with physics professor R. W. Thompson at Indiana University.


Since cosmic X-ray radiation is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, space-based telescopes are needed for X-ray astronomy. Applying himself to this problem, Giacconi worked on the instrumentation for X-ray astronomy; from rocket-borne detectors in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to Uhuru, the first orbiting X-ray astronomy satellite, in the 1970s. Giacconi's pioneering research continued in 1978 with the Einstein Observatory, the first fully imaging X-ray telescope put into space, and later with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched in 1999 and is still in operation. Giacconi also applied his expertise to other fields of astronomy, becoming the first permanent director (1981-1993) of the Space Telescope Science Institute (the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope), followed by Director General of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) from 1993–1999, overseeing the construction of the Very Large Telescope, then President of Associated Universities, Inc. (1999-2004) managing the early years of the ALMA array.


Giacconi was awarded a share of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002 "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources".[1] The other shares of the Prize in that year were awarded to Masatoshi Koshiba and Raymond Davis, Jr. for neutrino astronomy.


Giacconi held the positions of professor of physics and astronomy (1982–1997) and research professor (from 1998 to his death in 2018) at Johns Hopkins University, and was a university professor. During the 2000s he was principal investigator for the major Chandra Deep Field-South project with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Giacconi died on December 9, 2018.[2][3][4]



Honors and awards



  • Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy (1966)


  • Bruce Medal (1981)[5]


  • Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1981)


  • Heineman Prize (1981)


  • Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1982)


  • Wolf Prize in Physics (1987)


  • Nobel Prize in Physics (2002)


  • National Medal of Science (2003)


  • Asteroid 3371 Giacconi


References




  1. ^ Nobel prize citation


  2. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/science/riccardo-giacconi-dead.html


  3. ^ [1] (in Italian)


  4. ^ https://hub.jhu.edu/2018/12/12/riccardo-giacconi-obituary/


  5. ^ Bruce Medal page




Further reading



  • Rosati, Piero (25 January 2019). "Retrospective: Riccardo Giacconi (1931-2018)". Science. 363 (6425): 349. doi:10.1126/science.aaw5309. PMID 30679362..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em


  • Fabbiano, Giuseppina (22 January 2019). "Obituary: Riccardo Giacconi (1931-2018)". Nature. 565 (7740): 430. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-00216-8.










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