Antonino Zichichi

Antonino Zichichi
Born(1929-10-15)15 October 1929
Died9 February 2026(2026-02-09) (aged 96)

Antonino Zichichi (Italian pronunciation: [antoˈniːno dziˈkiːki]; 15 October 1929 – 9 February 2026) was an Italian physicist who worked in the field of nuclear physics. He served as President of the World Federation of Scientists and as a professor at the University of Bologna.

Life and career

Zichichi was born in Trapani, Sicily on 15 October 1929. After graduating from the Ximenes classical high school in Trapani,[1] he obtained a degree in physics from the University of Palermo.[2]

He collaborated on several discoveries in the field of sub-nuclear physics and worked in numerous research laboratories such as Fermilab in Chicago and CERN in Geneva, where in 1965 he led the research group that first observed the antideuteron,[3][4] simultaneously with an American team from the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory.[5]

In 1963, he founded the Centro Ettore Majorana of Erice, dedicated to scientific culture.[6][7][8] The Ettore Majorana centre sponsors the International School of Subnuclear Physics, where Zichichi served as director. He was president of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare from 1977 up to 1982, and in 1980 he strongly backed the creation of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso.[8][9] From 1978 until 1980, he served as President of the European Physical Society.[10][11][12]

In 1979, during the election of the new Director-General of CERN, pressure from Italy in his favour caused a clear rift between Italy and other Member States, and in the end, with 12 votes against, Zichichi's candidacy was rejected in favour of the German candidate Herwig Schopper.[13] In 1986, he became director of World Lab,[8] an association that supports scientific projects in third world countries, founded in 1973 by Isidor Isaac Rabi and Zichichi himself.[14]

Zichichi was an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Bologna.[15] He was president of the World Federation of Scientists, an organization concerned with the fight against planetary emergencies.[16] In 1982, with P. A. M. Dirac and Pyotr Kapitsa, he drafted the Erice statement.[17] Zichichi gave the opening talk at the 4-day international symposium Subnuclear Physics: Past, Present and Future held in 2011 in Vatican City.[18] Zichichi talked with Pope John Paul II about the responsibility of the Roman Catholic Church in the case of Galileo Galilei, playing a role in the public request of forgiveness issued by the Pope in October 1992.[19]

He was repeatedly critical of astrology and of the theory of evolution, which he considered to lack sufficient scientific evidence and a mathematical model capable of describing phenomena and making future predictions of events not yet known.[20] Zichichi died on 9 February 2026, at the age of 96.[21]

Honours and assignments

Publications

  • L'infinito, Lausanne, G. Galilei, 1988; Milano, Rizzoli, 1994 ISBN 8817138339; Milano, Nuova Pratiche Editrice, 1998.
  • Scienza ed emergenze planetarie. Il paradosso dell'era moderna, Milano, Rizzoli, 1993. ISBN 8817842869
  • Perché io credo in Colui che ha fatto il mondo, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 1999, ISBN 88-428-0714-1
  • L'irresistibile fascino del Tempo. Dalla resurrezione di Cristo all'universo subnucleare, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2000, ISBN 88-515-2004-6
  • Subnuclear Physics. The first 50 years highlights from Erice to ELN, Singapore, World Scientific, 2000.
  • Galilei divin uomo, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2001, ISBN 88-428-0943-8
  • Il vero e il falso. Passeggiando tra le stelle e a casa nostra, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2003, ISBN 88-428-1078-9
  • Galilei. Dall'Ipse Dixit al processo di oggi. 100 risposte, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2004, ISBN 88-428-1174-2
  • Tra Fede e Scienza. Da Giovanni Paolo II a Benedetto XVI, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2005, ISBN 88-428-1310-9
  • Creativity in Science: 6th International Zermatt Symposium Creativity in Economics, Arts and Science, Zermatt, Switzerland, 12-16 January 1996, World Scientific, 1999; ISBN 9810240457
  • Giovanni Paolo II. Il Papa Amico della Scienza, Marco Tropea Editore, 2011, ISBN 88-558-0180-5
  • Zichichi, A.,"Bruno Pontecorvo and his vision"; the content of the paper is a part of the special volume published by the Italian Physical Society (2013) to celebrate the Hundredth Anniversary of Bruno Pontecorvo.

See also

References

  1. ^ "La Storia". Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  2. ^ Antonella Varaschin, INFN (9 February 2026). "ADDIO AL GRANDE FISICO ANTONINO ZICHICHI". Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  3. ^ "L'antimateria all'Università di Bologna" (in Italian). 5 August 2006. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  4. ^ "Thomas Massam (1936-2017)". Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  5. ^ Dorfan, D. E; Eades, J.; Lederman, L. M.; Lee, W.; Ting, C. C. (June 1965). "Observation of Antideuterons". Phys. Rev. Lett. 14 (24): 1003–1006. Bibcode:1965PhRvL..14.1003D. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.14.1003. ISSN 0031-9007.
  6. ^ Zichichi, Antonino (July 2006). "Ettore Majorana: genius and mystery". CERN Courier. 46 (6): 23–26. Archived from the original on 23 February 2025. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  7. ^ Zichichi, Antonino (October 2009). "The queen of all sciences and Intelligent Design". CERN Courier. 49 (8): 42.
  8. ^ a b c "Mille anni di scienza in Italia". Archived from the original on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  9. ^ For this action, on 2 July 2021, he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Teramo.[https://www.unite.it/UniTE/Home/Meeting_internazionale_La_scienza_per_la_pace ] Archived 10 December 2025 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Angelica La Rosa (17 December 2020). "Antonino Zichichi: "se fossimo figli del caos, non potrebbero esistere le leggi fondamentali della natura". Archived from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  11. ^ "Antonino Zichichi". Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  12. ^ "The Fermi Fountain". European Physical Society. Archived from the original on 8 October 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  13. ^ "E' morto il fisico Antonino Zichichi: scienziato e divulgatore" (in Italian). Rai News 24 - Facebook profile. Archived from the original on 9 February 2026. Retrieved 9 February 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ^ World Federation of Scientists. "About the Organization" (in en=en). Archived from the original on 7 August 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  15. ^ "Addio al grande fisico Antonino Zichichi" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 9 February 2025. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 9 February 2026 suggested (help)
  16. ^ "The World Federation of Scientists home page". WFS. Archived from the original on 7 August 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  17. ^ "Sicily Establishes Large Award for Scientific Culture". Physics Today. 43 (2): 116. February 1990. Bibcode:1990PhT....43S.116.. doi:10.1063/1.2810454. Archived from the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  18. ^ Sánchez Sorondo, Marcelo; Zichichi, Antonino, eds. (2014). Subnuclear Physics: Past, Present and Future; Proceedings of the International Symposium, held 30 October - 2 November 2011, held in Vatican City. Scripta Varia, volume 119. Pontifical Academy of Sciences. ISBN 978-88-7761-107-9. Archived from the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  19. ^ From a post in the official Facebook profile (15 December 2025). URL archived on 21 December 2025.
  20. ^ "È morto il fisico Antonino Zichichi" (in Italian). ANSA. Archived from the original on 9 February 2026.
  21. ^ È morto a 96 anni il fisico Antonino Zichichi Archived 9 February 2026 at the Wayback Machine (in Italian)
  22. ^ "L'Università di Bologna ricorda Antonino Zichichi: «Un visionario e un grande maestro, tutti sapevano chi fosse»". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 9 February 2026. Archived from the original on 9 February 2026. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  23. ^ "Zichichi, Antonino | TWAS". twas.org. Archived from the original on 16 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
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