Emilio Picasso
Emilio Picasso (born July 9, 1927 in Genoa ; † October 12, 2014 ) was an Italian physicist.
Picasso first studied mathematics and, after two years, physics at the University of Genoa , where he became assistant professor for experimental physics after completing his doctorate. At first he dealt with atomic physics, but then switched to elementary particle physics. He worked at the Betatron in Turin and then at the Synchrotron in Frascati . 1961/62 he was in Bristol in the group of Cecil Powell , which investigated cosmic radiation with balloons. From 1964 he was at CERN , where he dealt with the measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon (g-2 experiment), a precision test ofQuantum electrodynamics . The experiment followed an idea from Leon Max Lederman . Those involved included John Bailey, Francis Farley , Simon van der Meer , Guido Petrucci, Frank Krienen. The measurements, for which two muon storage rings were built at CERN, dragged on for 15 years and achieved an accuracy of 5 ppm . Then he dealt with the construction of superconducting gravitational wave detectors . In the 1980s he became the project manager of the LEP at CERN (appointed by Herwig Schopper in 1980 ), where he also contributed his experience with superconductors. The original plans called for a much larger ring to run 12 km below the Jura mountains, but on the advice of tunnel expert Giovanni Lombardi , it was abandoned and the ring was relocated (in the remaining three kilometers in the Jura there was actually one Water ingress). LEP went into operation in 1989 (on the French national holiday, as Picasso had promised President Jacques Chirac two years earlier ).
In 1992 he retired from CERN. He then became director of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, where he continued his gravitational wave experiments in collaboration with the University of Genoa.
Picasso was a member of the Académie des Sciences , the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze and the Legion of Honor and holder of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic . He was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994.
literature
- Andrew Sessler, Edmund Wilson: Engines of discovery. World Scientific, 2007.
- Francis Farley, Emilio Picasso: The Muon g-2 Experiment. In: T. Kinoshita (Ed.): Quantum Electrodynamics. World Scientific, 1990, pp. 479-559.
- Francis Farley, Emilio Picasso: The Muon g-2 Experiments. In: Annual Review Nuclear and Particle Science. Volume 29, 1979, pp. 243-282.
Web links
- Cern Courier on the history of the LEP
- Francis Farley: g minus two plus Emilio , PDF file; 620 kB
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Picasso, Emilio |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 9, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Genoa |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 12, 2014 |