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 aolo
Budinich was born on August 28, 1916 in
Veli Lo¹inj (Lussingrande), then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, in a
very respected family of educators and ship commanders (Simone Budinich,
Antonio Budinich, etc.). By his own words everybody in Veli Lo¹inj said
that in the house of Budinich even the cats could read ("a casa dei
Budinich sa leger anca i gati")! |
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physicist born in Lussingrande |
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| In 1918, the Budinich family
moved to Trieste where Paolo's father taught high school history and
geography. He later transferred to the Liceo scientifico where he
also taught philosophy. Paolo graduated from that same school in 1934.
Unfortunately, the family did not have the financial means to pay for his
university education, so Paolo continued his studies by working in the
"Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa" with professor Leonida Tonelli. He was
paid little and barely survived. Nonetheless, he graduated in 1939 with a
thesis on the broadening of spectral lines.
That same year, he was afforded the opportunity to go to sea. He accepted a teaching post on the cruising ships of the Scuola Americo Vespuci which was part of the Academia Navale di Livorno. He thus taught physics while cruising all over the Mediterrannean. Even the Admiral enjoyed his lectures about the new physics and so very often invited him to sit at his table. In 1940, Italy entered World War II. Paolo was immediately mobilized, but was not very enthusiastic about the war. Moreover, he spent a part of the war in a submarine that he did not like. Captured by an English corvette, he became a prisoner of war and was taken first near London and later to a POW camp in the United States. Life in the prison camp was not bad since the prisoners had an Italian cook who made fresh tagliatelle daily, they had books to read, and Arturo Toscanini brought them his recordings. Every evening, they had an organized concert. The war ended and in the fall of 1945 Budinich returned to Trieste, and soon afterwards he joined the Physics Institute of the University of Padua where he started to work intensively on problems of modern theoretical physics, like cosmic rays, particle physics, etc. In 1949, he married Ambra Vidich who was born in Trieste. In 1951, Budinich went to the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen and worked with Werner Heisenberg, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. There, he evolved into an excellent theoretical physicist. In 1953 his first son Marco (now well known in his own right) was born, and Paolo was offered the position of head of the Institute of Physics in Trieste. In 1954 came the opportunity to work with Wolfgang Pauli in Zürich and to broaden the links to Prag, Graz, Ljubljana, Budapest and Zagreb. Paolo Budinich, made great strides and was instrumental in the founding and early development of many of Trieste's scientific institutions - from the launching of the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in the 1960s to the creation of Laboratorio dell'Immaginario Scientifico in the 1990s. Together with Absus Salam, a physicist from Pakistan who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics, he is credited for founding the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in 1964 under the aegis of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and also for the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA). ICTP was not to be just another international research institute, but a model organization with a triple purpose: 1) promoting research in physics and mathematics in developing countries, in part by offering scientists training that could be applied in their home countries; 2) serving as a forum in which scientists from all over the world could meet; 3) and operating a first-class research facility. |
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The first President of ICTP's scientific board was Robert Oppenheimer, and for many years Budinich was its deputy director. He tells his story in an autobiography titled L'arcipelago delle meraviglie (The Archipelago of Wonders), published in 2001 by Di Renzo Editore in Rome, Italy. Apart from his personal remembrances, the book recounts the political battle leading to the creation of ICTP in Trieste as well as the early days of the Centre. In the concluding pages, Budinich writes about the reconciliation between science and philosophy and the capacity of mathematics to anticipate unknown physical realities - from antimatter to string theory. Originally located in the center of Trieste, the Centre moved in 1968 close to Miramare castle where it remains to this day. The main building houses lecture rooms, scientific staff offices, a library with 120,000 holdings, the computer center, and the principal cafeteria. In the foreground of the aerial photograph [below] is the Enrico Fermi Building with mainly administrative offices and the headquarters of the Third World Academy of Sciences. The white building on the left is the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA). |
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Today, ICTP has a permanent staff of about 130 employees, including scientists, technicians, and administrators. The Centre maintains interactive links with scientific communities in about 170 countries and hosts up to 4,000 scientists each year as short-term or long-term visitors. Since its creation, the ICTP has built a worldwide family of loyal alumni - tens of thousands of former associates, lecturers, and students, many of whom are now internationally recognized scientists, university leaders, research-council presidents, and even high-level politicians in their own countries.
The Absus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics awarded its first Dirac Medal in 1985. The Medal is given to scientists working in the fields of theoretical physics or mathematics and is in honour of P.A.M. Dirac, one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century and a staunch friend of the Centre. It is awarded annually on Dirac's birthday, 8 August, to scientists who have made significant contributions to theoretical physics and mathematics. An international committee of distinguished scientists selects the winners from a list of nominated candidates. Pictured at left is Paolo Budinich at the 1990 award ceremony.
In May 1996, at the celebration of the Institute of Physics 35th anniversary, the Institute granted its Charter to the ICTP in Trieste in recognition of a long standing and fruitfull collaboration between the two istitutions. Prof. Paolo Budinich accepted the charter in behalf of ICTP. |
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On September 17 to 19, 2001, an International Conference on Science and Culture was held in Paolo Budinich's native Lo¹inj (Lussino). The event was in his honor as a 'founding father' of ICTP and SISSA and for his being a leading advocate of scientific cooperation with central and eastern European countries. The conference was organized on the occasion of Budinich's 85th birthday. Three days later, ICTP also dedicated a Symposium on Future Challenges in Science to Daniele Amati, who succeeded Budinich as Director of SISSA in 1986 and then served in that capacity for the next 15 years until the fall of 2001 when he stepped down as director. On October 11, then ICTP presented Budinich with a sculpture created by Trieste-born artist Valter F.G. Terzago. The ceremony took place in ICTP's Main Lecture Hall and the presentor was Ambassador Francesco Aloisi de Larderel, director general for Cultural Promotion and Cooperation in the Italian Foreign Ministry.
Paolo Budinich was awarded the 2003 Abdus Salam Medal at the Third World Academy of Sciences' (TWAS) 9th General Conference and 20th anniversary celebrations, hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS),. This conference was held October 14 to 19 at the Beijing International Convention Centre, Beijing, China. The event was attended by more than 300 delegates, including 13 government ministers. Highlights of the conference included an address by China's President Hu Jintao, given during the Opening Ceremony, and presentations by two Nobel Laureates. His many scientific achievements aside, Paolo Budinich has always had a passion for the sea and sailing, and has cruised all over the Adriatic in his boat Aleph. His love is also reflected in his autobiography where he tells us: "A me piace pensare la vita come un viaggio in un paese arcano e sconosciuto, che intraprendiamo formiti di un mezzo, che io, nato su un'isola, immagino simile ad una barca, per navigare in un vasto arcipelago. Una barca preparataci misteriosamente da qualcuno – di cui sappiamo poco – fornita di ben ordinati comparti dove abbiamo trovato meravigliosi strumenti per vedere, ascoltare, comunicare, ma anche per rielaborare reminiscenze e per formulare progetti, congetture e speranze che sarano le mappe per orientarci nel nostro viaggio; per disegnare le rotte da seguire e registrare le scoperte che faremo durante il viaggio. Alcune di queste mappe sono già compilate, alter da completare, altre ancora da disegnare tutte, di bel nuovo, e da riordinare poi all fine del viaggio. La barca, per quanto bella e robusta ha, come tutte le barche, una durata limitata e dovrà a un certo momento essere abandonata perché destinata a finite in fondo al mare…" Selected works:
Books, reviews and interviews:
Related articles:
Bibliography:
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This page is compliments of Hrvoje Zorc and Marisa Ciceran Created: Monday, November
17, 2003; Last updated:
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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