It went to an Italian, the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021: it is about George Parisi, 73 years old, full professor of theoretical physics at the Sapienza University of Rome and associate researcher of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics.
At the center of his research activity, which over the years has earned him numerous international awards, is the study of complex systems, which led to the "discovery of the interaction between disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from the atomic level to the planetary scale”As reported by the motivation of the Nobel released in the press release that announced the award this morning.
Who is Giorgio Parisi, the new Nobel Prize in Physics
Born in Rome in 1948, Parisi graduated in Physics at Sapienza in 1970 with a thesis on the Higgs boson, having as speaker Professor Nicola Cabibbo. Subsequently he entered as a researcher first in the CNR and then in the National Institute of Nuclear Physics. He worked at Columbia University in New York, the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He then became full professor of theoretical physics at the University of Tor Vergata in 1981.
In 1992 he moved to the University of Sapienza, and in the same year he received his first important international recognition, the Boltzmann medal, awarded to him for his "fundamental contributions to statistical physics and in particular for providing the solution in the field of spin glasses".
Last February Giorgio Parisi had already received the prestigious Wolf Prize for his research work. Currently, he is the only other Italian, besides Carlo Rubbia and Michele Parrinello, to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
It is also the fifth Italian to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, and the first since 1984, when the award was assigned to Rubbia. The Nobel Prizes so far awarded to personalities of Italian science and culture are 20 in all.
The statements after the Nobel
"I am happy. I did not expect. But I knew there could be possibilities ”. These are the words of Parisi, in connection with the Stockholm Academy of Sciences, which since 1901 has been awarding the Nobel Prize in Physics. “Research requires original ideas, freedom, rigor, discipline - he commented Maria Christina Mass, Minister of University and Research - requires knowing how to pursue one's goals with ups and downs, but gives opportunities and hope to the world, especially to the new generations, teaches how to use methods that encourage comparison and allow for useful syntheses . Even this today is the lesson that Giorgio Parisi gives us ”.
An award in "cohabitation", for the Italian physicist. Indeed, this year's Nobel medal will be shared with Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann. The two are famous for their studies on the climate and the responsibilities of human activities in global warming. "It is clear - added Parisi to his two foreign colleagues - that for the future generation, we must now act very quickly against climate change".
“The great merit of Parisi - said Antonio Zoccoli, president of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics - was having contributed in a decisive way to the sectors to which he dedicated himself. Above all, he did so ahead of his time. It is part of his genius his ability to see, to anticipate, to understand before others what was the direction to take. He understood what would become relevant to research ”.
Featured photo source: Twitter @sapienzaroma
