Roberto Battiston | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 8 November 1956 Trento, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Alma mater | Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Paris-Sud University |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Perugia, University of Trento, Italian Space Agency, INFN |
Roberto Battiston is an Italian physicist, specialized in the field of fundamental physics and elementary particles, and leading experts in the physics of cosmic rays. He was the president of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) from 2014 to 2018 and president of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) Committee on Astroparticle Physics from 2009 to 2014.[1]
Battiston graduated in physics in 1979 at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa[1] with a thesis on the production of muons in proton-proton interactions at the CERN ISR, under the supervision of Nobel Prize laureate Samuel C. C. Ting and of Prof. Giorgio Bellettini. He went on to receive a fellowship at the Ecole Normale de Rue D’Ulm in Paris and was awarded a Doctorate at University of Paris XI, Orsay.[1]
From 1983 to 2012, he was first researcher and then, from 1993, full professor in physics at University of Perugia. In 2009, he was elected for a three-years mandate as president of the National Commission for Astroparticle Physics of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN). He moved in 2012 he moved to the Department of Physics of the University of Trento,[1] where he holds the chair in Experimental Physics and where he contributed in founding the new INFN National Center, TIFPA (Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications), devoted to space physics and technology in the astroparticle sector.[2]
On 16 May 2014, following a competitive selection by an international committee, he was appointed by Minister Stefania Giannini President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for 2014–2018.[3]
In 1990 he started a collaboration with the Nobel laureate Samuel Ting on the L3 experiment at the LEP of CERN, designing and constructing a high-precision silicon detector to detect particles with a very short lifetime.[1]
From 1995 to 2014, his scientific activity was mainly devoted to a new area of research, astroparticle physics, with advanced elementary particle detectors used to characterize primordial antimatter and dark matter, two important open issues of modern astrophysics and cosmology. He participated to the design and construction of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) in the role of deputy spokesperson.[4] After the successful engineering mission on the Space Shuttle (AMS-01),[5] the final version, AMS-02, was installed on the International Space Station in 2011 and has been collecting data ever since.[6]
Since 2007, he coordinates the Italian delegation in the joint Sino-Italian development of the Chinese satellite CSES, dedicated to the development of new techniques for the monitoring of seismic phenomena from space.[7] The launch of the satellite, which took place in 2018,[8] opens up new perspectives in the field of Earth observation from space and will be followed by a second satellite in 2022.[9]
Under his presidency of the ASI, important programs involving the Agency were launched:
As of August 25, 2020, Web of Science reports Battiston as author of 486 published papers, with 17.350 citations received and an H index of 58.[1]
Battiston is a columnist for La Stampa, L'Adige, La Repubblica, and he wrote for a long time the "Astri e Particelle" ("Stars and Particles") section in Le Scienze (Italian version of Scientific American). He also authored the following books:
Italy: Commendatore of the Order of Merit for Labour (2018)[21]
France: Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor (2017)[22]