Riccardo giacconi biography

ESO’s Director General from 1993 to 1999

Born on 6 October 1931 in Genoa, Italy, Giacconi spent most of his young life in Milan, where he obtained a degree in Physics from the University of Milan.

Although he didn’t enjoy lectures, he discovered a love for practical scientific research. Giacconi carried out his thesis on the development of nuclear interactions by protons in the lead plates of a cloud chamber, completing his PhD in 1954.

Riccardo giacconi biography

While carrying out this research he met Giuseppe Occhialini, a physicist who suggested that Giacconi travel to the United States to work with the experimental physicist R. W. Thompson.

In 1956 Giacconi won a scholarship through the Fulbright Program, which enabled him to immigrate to the United States and work on the analysis of data previously obtained by Thompson at Indiana University.

Two years later a fellowship position at Princeton University allowed him to work in G. Reynolds’ laboratory from 1958 to 1959. There he c