Giuseppe Caglioti Explained

Giuseppe Caglioti (19 August 1931 – 16 July 2024) was an Italian physicist, academic, researcher and writer. He was an Emeritus Professor of Physics of Matter at the Polytechnic University of Milan. Caglioti was an Effective Member of the Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere, Emeritus Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science and of the Italian Physical Society and member of the Istituto di Studi Superiori Gerolamo Cardano.

Life and career

Caglioti graduated in Physics at the University of Rome La Sapienza in 1953, and specialized at the same university in Nuclear Physics (1955), and at the Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, USA, in Nuclear Science and Engineering (1956). Assistant at the Physics Institute of University of Rome (1953–1955), then researcher at the National Nuclear Energy Committee (CNEN then ENEA) of Italy (1955–1970). In this position, Caglioti was resident research associate at the Argonne National Laboratory (1956–1957), the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL), Chalk River, Canada (1959), at the Joint Research Centre of the European Union, Ispra. Italy (1959–1971), and intermittently (1966–1973) visiting professor at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University, NY, USA. Caglioti was Full Professor of solid state physics (1970–2006), and Director of the Institute (now Department) of Nuclear Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan; Emeritus Professor from 2006.[1]

Caglioti died on 16 July 2024, at the age of 92.[2]

Research

Caglioti’s original research interests have been addressed to experimental basic and applied nuclear physics, neutron spectroscopy, and the study of the structure and mechanical performance of materials. In these areas, Caglioti was the author/co-author of about 130 scientific publications, mostly in international journals or books. Starting from the eighties, his interests have shifted toward technological research (one patent on extra-light automobile wheels) and the development of the Piezo-MusiColor Project: a synergetic combination of science, technology and art (one patent on MusiColor) aiming to an interactive, synaesthesic enjoyment of music and sounds also by blind, deaf and hard-of-hearing persons.

Along these cross-disciplinary research lines, Caglioti explored the concept of symmetry breaking as a common feature in science and art, and the connection between quantum physics and perception. These investigations have been the subject of about 50 papers on correlations between human and natural sciences, of a good number of popular books, and of a graduate course on Aesthetics – Scientific Components of Harmony and Beauty, held for many year (2003-2010) at the Faculty of Design, Polytechnic University of Milan.

Awards and honours

Books

As author

As editor

Notes and References

  1. https://www.energia.polimi.it/fileadmin/user_upload/File/Personale/Emeriti/Caglioti-CurriculumPubblicazioni.pdf Caglioti Curriculum
  2. https://www.ilmattino.it/en/renowned_physicist_giuseppe_caglioti_passes_away_at_92-8245030.html Renowned Physicist Giuseppe Caglioti Passes Away at 92
  3. Symmetriebrechung und Wahrnehmung. . Zeitschrift für Kristallographie - Crystalline Materials . 1 January 1993 . 204 . 1 . 156 . 10.1524/zkri.1993.204.Part-1.156 . 1993ZK....204..156P . Paufler . P. .
  4. Garcia . Paul . Review of The Dynamics of Ambiguity . The Mathematical Gazette . 1995 . 79 . 484 . 156–157 . 10.2307/3620033 . 3620033 .
  5. . García Moliner . Federico . CAGLIOTI, G.: The dynamics of ambiguity (Book Review) . Arbor . 145 . 569 . May 1993 . 135 .
  6. Knox . R. S. . Solids and Liquids: Theory of Condensed Matter . Lectures presented at an international course, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, 1967. F. Bassani, G. Caglioti, and J. Ziman, Directors. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1968. xiii + 1020 pp., illus. $20. . Science . 8 August 1969 . 165 . 3893 . 581–582 . 10.1126/science.165.3893.581.b .