Pontecorvo biography

Italian physicist Bruno Pontecorvo is remembered for his far-reaching insights, some of which have represented milestones in modern physics. This year, on the centenary of his birth, a conference in Rome ( September) and a workshop and exhibition in Pisa, Italy (late October to December) will celebrate his life and work.

Pontecorvo was born in Marina di Pisa, Italy, on 22 August At the age of 16 he began to study engineering at Pisa University, but after two years decided to change to physics at La Sapienza University in Rome.

There he obtained his degree in and became an assistant of the great physicist Enrico Fermi, contributing in to Fermi’s experiment on slow neutrons that led the way to the discovery of nuclear fission.

In Pontecorvo moved to Paris to work with Irène and Frédéric Joilot-Curie, but when the Nazis invaded Paris in , he fled for the US.

In he moved to Canada, where he not only worked on the design and operation of t