Massimo Porrati (born 1961 in Genova, Italy) is a professor of physics and a member of the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics at New York University. He graduated from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy with a "Diploma di Scienze" degree in 1985. Later he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA and UC Berkeley in the USA. He was a research scientist at the INFN section in Pisa, Italy, in collaboration with CERN, where he over the years has spent several periods, [1] before joining NYU in 1992. His major research interests are string theory, supersymmetry and supergravity, nonperturbative aspects of strings and quantum field theory, and cosmology. [2]
Among other things, Porrati is known for his work on the large-distance modification of gravity and its application to the cosmological constant problem. With Gia Dvali and Gregory Gabadadze he co-pioneered and advanced this direction by proposing a generally covariant model of infrared modification of gravity (the so-called DGP model), and studying many novel and subtle features of this class of models.
Porrati held the Marie Curie Chair (2005–2007) at the Theoretical Physics Group in the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy. [3] Massimo was featured on a video produced by the Wired YouTube channel titled 'Theoretical Physicist Brian Greene Explains Time in 5 Levels of Difficulty', where Greene mentioned their collaboration on research. [4]
The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa is a public university institution in Pisa and Florence, Tuscany, Italy, currently attended by about 600 undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) students. Together with the University of Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, it is part of the Pisa University System.
The International School for Advanced Studies is an international, state-supported, post-graduate-education and research institute in Trieste, Italy.
Gabriele Veneziano is an Italian theoretical physicist widely considered the father of string theory. He has conducted most of his scientific activities at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, and held the Chair of Elementary Particles, Gravitation and Cosmology at the Collège de France in Paris from 2004 to 2013, until the age of retirement there.
The Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies is a special-statute, highly selective public research university located in Pisa, Italy. Together with the University of Pisa and Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, it is part of the Pisa University System.
The Pisa University System is a network of higher education institutions in Pisa, Italy. The following three schools and universities belong to the system:
Georgi (Gia) Dvali is a Georgian theoretical physicist. He is a professor of theoretical physics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, and holds a Silver Professorship Chair at the New York University. His research interests include String theory, Extra dimensions, Quantum gravity, and the Early universe.
Luciano Maiani is a Sammarinese physicist best known for his prediction of the charm quark with Sheldon Glashow and John Iliopoulos.
Giuseppe Franco Bassani was an Italian physicist.
Gregory Gabadadze is a Georgian theoretical physicist specializing in the field of gravity. He holds the position of Professor of Physics at New York University, where he also serves as the Dean for Science. In his previous roles at NYU, Gabadadze was the Chair of the Department of Physics and the Director of the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics.
Riccardo Barbieri is an Italian theoretical physicist and a professor at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. He has written more than two hundred research papers in the field of theoretical elementary particle physics, and has been particularly influential in physics beyond the Standard Model.
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Luigi Di Lella is an Italian experimental particle physicist. He has been a staff member at CERN for over 40 years, and has played an important role in major experiments at CERN such as CAST and UA2. From 1986 to 1990 he acted as spokesperson for the UA2 Collaboration, which, together with the UA1 Collaboration, discovered the W and Z bosons in 1983.
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Luigi Arialdo Radicati di Bròzolo was an Italian theoretical physicist
Giuseppe Bertin is an Italian physicist, known for his work in the explanation of the spiral structure of galaxies, and in the use of these as cosmological probes and gravitational lenses. Bertin is currently Professor at the University of Milan. He won the Premio Presidente della Repubblica in 2013 for his contribute in the latest discoveries in the dynamics of galaxies.
Ignatios Antoniadis is a Greek theoretical physicist, specializing in string theory and particle physics.