Sergio ferrara is the Italian physicist who won the Breakthrough prize, worth a total of $ 3 million.
Victory is shared with colleagues Daniel Freeman e Peter Van Nieuwenhuizen, the first American and the other Dutch.
Sergio ferrara
Sergio Ferrara and his work colleagues have reached the pinnacle of their academic career for having been the architects of the “Supergravity! The notorious "supergravity" theory realizes what Einstein hoped, that is to bring together relativity and particle physics.
Formulated in 1976, the theory succeeded in surprisingly integrating the description of the force of gravity with that of fundamental particles. All this was possible using the tools of quantum physics. Ferrara had begun discussing the idea of the theory as early as 1975 in Paris with Freedman, and only later did Van Nieuwenhuizen join the project. As Milner states:"When we think of the great works of the human imagination, we often refer to art; to music and literature, but some of the deepest and most beautiful creations are those of science ". Supergravity has inspired countless research physicists, and may still contain profound truths about the nature of matter.
Breakthrough Award
Established in 2012 and always assigned to the greatest researchers in the world, the Breakthrough award is recognized today as one of the most prestigious scientific awards. The international prize is also awarded for mathematics, life sciences and finally for fundamental physics. The Italian Ferrara stands out as an Italian in the latter category, in the “Special” section!
The recognition, as well as for Sergio Ferrara, sees Freedman and Van Nieuwenhuizen on the altars; as in the past, also Stephen Hawking, seven CERN researchers for his contribution to the discovery of the Higgs boson. Ferrara is not an exception, since among the Italians awarded in the past, we remember Guido Tonelli, Fabiola Gianotti, featuring Ligo for the discovery of gravitational waves. The Breakthrough Prize has no limitations on the total number of winners at the same time, as for example happens with the Nobel Prize which includes a maximum of three. The motivation for the prize awarded is also important.
Edward Witten
Witten, chair of the Scientific Committee, which selected the winners, who works at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies gave a nice motivation. "It is extraordinary that Einstein's equations admit the generalization we know as supergravity" Witten is one of the most authoritative contemporary physicists and mathematicians. The award somehow decides to break down the barriers that separated the theory of relativity from particle physics.
Well it was our Sergio Ferrara who projected himself in such a way experimental, as a pioneer in an unknown territory and for us mostly difficult. This territory is commonly referred to as "new physics", and today the Standard Model is unable to describe it all. When we think of the great works of the human genius, we often refer only to art in the broad sense, or to music and literature; however some of the insights and I would say the deepest and most beautiful creations are those of science.
Gravitino by Sergio Ferrara
Speaking today of the "gravitino", or rather of a particle capable of opening a new world, is extraordinary, but possible. The researcher Sergio Ferrara, in the National Institute of Nuclear Physics is keen to research and study to go beyond the boundaries of traditional physics.
According to Ferrara, if it were discovered, it would be there Keystone to finally explain dark matter, which is a still unknown phenomenon. The award ceremony took place in the United States on November XNUMX, in NASA's historic Hangar one, near Mountain View.
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