In Memoriam

ICTP was saddened to learn of the passing of Roberto Petronzio, an Italian theoretical physicist who led the country’s National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) for 7 years and who was actively involved with ICTP as the Italian representative on the Centre’s Steering Committee from 2006 to 2014. During his time with ICTP, Petronzio strengthened collaboration between the Centre and INFN.

Luciano Maiani, chair of ICTP’s Scientific Council, had a long scientific collaboration with Petronzio, described him as a creative, hard worker whose enthusiasm for research was contagious. In a tribute he wrote, Maiani recalls Petronzio’s fine mathematical mind, adding, “Roberto never lost sight of the relationship that goes between theory and experiment and was able to suggest meaningful experiments himself, to test delicate aspects of the theory. For this, he was widely appreciated and respected.”

The full text of Maiani’s tribute is here.