Antonino Zichichi (Italian pronunciation: [antoˈniːno ddziˈkiːki]; born 15 October 1929) is an Italian physicist who has worked in the field of nuclear physics. He has served as President of the World Federation of Scientists and as a professor at the University of Bologna.
Zichichi was born in Trapani, Sicily, in 1929. He has collaborated on several discoveries in the field of sub-nuclear physics and has worked in numerous research laboratories such as Fermilab in Chicago and CERN in Geneva. In 1963, he founded the Centro Ettore Majorana of Erice, dedicated to scientific culture.[1][2] The Ettore Majorana centre sponsors the International School of Subnuclear Physics, where Zichichi serves 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. Currently, he is an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Bologna. He is president of the World Federation of Scientists, an organization concerned with the fight against planetary emergencies.[3] In 1982, with P. A. M. Dirac and Pyotr Kapitsa, he drafted the Erice statement.[4] Zichichi gave the opening talk at the 4-day international symposium Subnuclear Physics: Past, Present and Future held in 2011 in Vatican City.[5]
