Gabriele Veneziano
Gabriele Veneziano (Florence, 7 September 1942) is an Italian physicist, known for introducing into particle physics the concept of amplitude that later took his name. His studies on quantum gravitation, conceived to explain field interactions and leading in 1968 to the formulation of the new physical quantity named after him, allowed — through the extension of his original idea — the hypothesis of the existence of primordial non-pointlike objects called strings. For this reason he is considered the founding father of string theory.
Biography
He graduated in physics in 1965 at the University of Florence (thesis advisor: Raoul Gatto). In 1967 he earned a Ph.D. in physics at the Weizmann Institute of Rehovot (Israel), where he returned as professor (Amos de Shalit special chair) in 1972, after a period at MIT first as a post-doctoral fellow and then as Assistant Professor.
Since 1978 he has been a Permanent Senior staff member at CERN in Geneva, where he also served as director of the Theoretical Physics division between 1994 and 1997.
One of his 1968 papers gave rise to the dual models (Veneziano Model or Dual Resonance Model), from which string theories emerged — one of the current frontiers of the search for a unified theory of fundamental interactions. His most important contributions are in field theory, string theory and the cosmological models inspired by the latter.
He discovered that Euler’s Beta function, used as a scattering amplitude (Veneziano Amplitude), has many features useful for explaining the physical properties of particles interacting through the strong interaction. In 1968 he discovered a function related to the Euler integral, able to describe the behaviour of quarks, electrons and photons, but not suitable for the other nuclear particles.
His most recent research focuses on the study of the original Big Bang and on the development of a cosmological theory of everything capable of unifying the fundamental interactions of matter. In this regard, Veneziano has worked in string cosmology and developed a pre-Big Bang model.
He currently holds the chair in elementary particle physics, gravitation and cosmology at the Collège de France and is very active in several areas of high-energy physics research.
Professional positions
Postdoc and then Visiting Associate Professor: MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA, 1968-1972
Full Professor, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel: 1972-1976
Amos de Shalit Professor of Physics, Weizmann Institute, Israel: 1974-1976. Staff Member, Div. TH, CERN, Geneva: since 1976. Director of the same division: 1994-1997. Holder of a “Chaire Condorcet”, Paris, 1994. Holder of a “Chaire Blaise Pascal”, Paris, 2000-2002. Holder of the Chair of “Elementary Particles, Gravitation and Cosmology” at the Collège de France, Paris, since 2004.
Memberships
Member of the Turin Academy of Sciences: since 1994
Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei: since 1996
Member of the Académie des Sciences, France: since 2002
Honours
1999 I. Ya. Pomeranchuk Prize, Moscow
2000 Gold Medal of the Italian Republic as Benemerito della Cultura
2004 Dannie Heineman Prize of the American Physical Society
2005 Enrico Fermi Prize of the Italian Physical Society
2006 Albert Einstein Medal. 2007 Oskar Klein Medal and Memorial Lecture
2007 Commendatore al merito della Repubblica Italiana
2009 James Joyce Award, Dublin
2009 Felice Pietro Chisesi and Caterina Tomassoni Prize
2009 “Schola Physica Romana” Medal, Sapienza University of Rome
(Adapted from Gabriele Veneziano on Wikipedia)