In memory of Beppe Nardulli
Beppe Nardulli was a Full Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Bari, and member of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN). His research fields included elementary particle physics and statistical physics of neural networks. He has also been an esteemed scholar for his contribution to fields of peace studies, control of weapons and nuclear disarmament.
As a man and as a scientist, he lived the civil commitment as a duty, striving with his intelligence and knowledge for struggles of highly social, moral and political inspiration.
«La fisica non promette la verità ma consente di scoprire le menzogne, cioè le false verità e le false teorie attraverso l'uso congiunto del metodo teorico che consente di fare nuove predizioni e del metodo sperimentale che può smentirle. Può sembrare poco, ma a pensarci bene, è una promessa così ambiziosa che vale la pena di spenderci la vita.»
Giuseppe Nardulli's scientific journey in a nutshell
July 6th 1948 — June 26th 2008
Born in Bari on July 6th, 1948, he was awarded the Laurea cum laude in Physics at the University of Bari on March 29th, 1972.
Before becoming full professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Bari from 1994, he served as fellow (1974-77), assistant professor (1977-1983) and associate professor of Statistical Mechanics (1983-1994) at the same University. He has also been Visiting Scientist at CERN-Geneva (April-July 1983), at JINR-Dubna USSR (May-July 1987), at Centre de Physique Theorique-CNRS, Marseille (July-December 1984) and Paris (July 1994); Professor at the University of Marseille-Aix-en-Provence (September 1990); Scientific Associate at the Theory Division of CERN (Fall-Winter 1999-2000) and at CTP-MIT (Fall 2002).
Author of about 200 scientific papers and proceedings, and of a widely used university textbook on Quantum Mechanics, he was national coordinator of the INFN-funded research project "Phenomenology of Gauge Theories" (BA21); national coordinator of the INFN-funded "Neuronet" research project; coordinator of the Theory Group of INFN-Bari; coordinator of national relevant research projects funded by the Italian Ministry of Education.
Chief organizer of several workshops on High Energy Physics and editor of their proceedings, he served also as Director of the Center TIRES (Center of Innovative Technologies for Signal Detection and Processing) at the University of Bari and Director of the postgraduated course on Technologies for Peace and Disarmament at the University of Bari, Italy.
Honors: Alfiere del Lavoro della Repubblica Italiana and Scholarship Montecatini-Edison.
Scientific research
His contributions to research concern high-energy physics, statistical mechanics of neural networks and the development of algorithms for image recognition.
Teaching
Beppe Nardulli held numerous courses at the University of Bari (Quantum Mechanics, Theory of Fundamental Interactions, Condensed Matter Physics).
Social and political engagement
He considered social and civil engagement as a duty and a responsibility. As a scientist, he wanted to use and share his competence to serve important causes.
Naming of Aula A after Giuseppe Nardulli
On the 5th of April 2019, Aula A of the Physics Department at the University of Bari has been named after Giuseppe Nardulli.
