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Nicola Cabibbo
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Nicola Cabibbo
Nicola Cabibbo (10 April 1935 – 16 August 2010) was an Italian physicist best known for his work on the weak interaction, particularly his introduction of the Cabibbo angle. Interested in science from a young age, he studied physics at the Sapienza University of Rome, graduating in 1958 with a thesis completed under Bruno Touschek.
Nicola Cabibbo was born on 10 April 1935 in Rome, Italy to Silician parents; his father, Emanuele, was a lawyer and his mother was a housewife. He was interested in mathematics, physics and astronomy from an early age, and built his own radios. Despite growing up during World War II, his elementary school education ran uninterrupted, and he subsequently attended the Liceo Torquato Tasso. There, a textbook titled What Is Mathematics? sparked Cabibbo's interest in pursuing scientific studies.
After the end of the war, Cabibbo also developed an interest in American literature and often frequented the library of the United States embassy to read and borrow books. His favourite authors were Ernest Hemingway, Theodore Dreiser and Herman Melville, but he also enjoyed science fiction and books on arctic expeditions.
Cabibbo enrolled at the Sapienza University of Rome in 1952 and graduated with a degree in physics in 1958. His thesis, which focused on weak interactions and muon decay, was completed under the supervision of Bruno Touschek and was done in collaboration with fellow students Francesco Calogero and Paolo Guidoni.
After graduating, Cabibbo began working for the Rome Division of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. Two years later, in 1960, he was hired at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, becoming the first theoretical physicist stationed there.
In 1963, while working at CERN, Cabibbo found the solution to the puzzle of the weak decays of strange particles, formulating what came to be known as Cabibbo universality. In 1967 Nicola settled back in Rome where he taught theoretical physics and created a large school. He was president of the INFN from 1983 to 1992, during which time the Gran Sasso Laboratory was inaugurated. He was also president of the Italian energy agency, ENEA, from 1993 to 1998, and was president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences from 1993 until his death. In 2004, Cabibbo spent a year at CERN as guest professor, joining the NA48/2 collaboration.
Cabibbo's major work on the weak interaction originated from a need to explain two observed phenomena:
Cabibbo addressed these issues, following Murray Gell-Mann and Maurice Lévy, by postulating weak universality, which involves a similarity in the weak interaction coupling strength between different generations of particles. He addressed the second issue with a mixing angle θC (now called the Cabibbo angle), between the down and strange quarks. Modern measurements show that θC = 13.04°.
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Nicola Cabibbo
Nicola Cabibbo (10 April 1935 – 16 August 2010) was an Italian physicist best known for his work on the weak interaction, particularly his introduction of the Cabibbo angle. Interested in science from a young age, he studied physics at the Sapienza University of Rome, graduating in 1958 with a thesis completed under Bruno Touschek.
Nicola Cabibbo was born on 10 April 1935 in Rome, Italy to Silician parents; his father, Emanuele, was a lawyer and his mother was a housewife. He was interested in mathematics, physics and astronomy from an early age, and built his own radios. Despite growing up during World War II, his elementary school education ran uninterrupted, and he subsequently attended the Liceo Torquato Tasso. There, a textbook titled What Is Mathematics? sparked Cabibbo's interest in pursuing scientific studies.
After the end of the war, Cabibbo also developed an interest in American literature and often frequented the library of the United States embassy to read and borrow books. His favourite authors were Ernest Hemingway, Theodore Dreiser and Herman Melville, but he also enjoyed science fiction and books on arctic expeditions.
Cabibbo enrolled at the Sapienza University of Rome in 1952 and graduated with a degree in physics in 1958. His thesis, which focused on weak interactions and muon decay, was completed under the supervision of Bruno Touschek and was done in collaboration with fellow students Francesco Calogero and Paolo Guidoni.
After graduating, Cabibbo began working for the Rome Division of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. Two years later, in 1960, he was hired at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, becoming the first theoretical physicist stationed there.
In 1963, while working at CERN, Cabibbo found the solution to the puzzle of the weak decays of strange particles, formulating what came to be known as Cabibbo universality. In 1967 Nicola settled back in Rome where he taught theoretical physics and created a large school. He was president of the INFN from 1983 to 1992, during which time the Gran Sasso Laboratory was inaugurated. He was also president of the Italian energy agency, ENEA, from 1993 to 1998, and was president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences from 1993 until his death. In 2004, Cabibbo spent a year at CERN as guest professor, joining the NA48/2 collaboration.
Cabibbo's major work on the weak interaction originated from a need to explain two observed phenomena:
Cabibbo addressed these issues, following Murray Gell-Mann and Maurice Lévy, by postulating weak universality, which involves a similarity in the weak interaction coupling strength between different generations of particles. He addressed the second issue with a mixing angle θC (now called the Cabibbo angle), between the down and strange quarks. Modern measurements show that θC = 13.04°.
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