Claudio Ciofi degli Atti, a theoretical physicist who played a leading role in theoretical nuclear physics and held important institutional positions at the University of Perugia and at INFN, has recently passed away. He served as director of the University’s Department of Physics, of the newly established INFN Perugia Division, and of what was then INFN Health Division.
“Claudio was a prolific and international renown scientist,” recalls Luciano Maiani, former president of INFN and director general of CERN, who worked with Ciofi degli Atti when he was a fellow at the physics laboratories of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. “Thanks to his scientific leadership, he trained a large school of researchers who went on to make successful contributions to different areas of fundamental nuclear physics. With his open and communicative personality, he earned the unanimous appreciation and unconditional esteem of his colleagues.”
Claudio combined his intellectual abilities with an exceptional ability for organisation, and his profound dedication to research was matched by a clear-sighted vision of his research field. For this reason, for many decades and until quite recently, Claudio was a point of reference for the national and international scientific community.
An expert in nuclear structure, light nuclei, and correlations in finite nuclei and nuclear matter, Ciofi degli Atti graduated in Moscow and subsequently in Rome. During his studies, he met Ugo Amaldi, Francesco Calogero, Daniele Prosperi, and the experimental group that, in the 1960s, was carrying out pioneering studies of electron scattering from nuclei at INFN Frascati National Laboratories. He quickly became one of the leading international experts in the field.
He began his career at INFN, where he served as director of the Health Division for two terms. At the end of the 1980s, he moved to the University of Perugia as full professor. There, he served as director of the Department of Physics and of the INFN Division.
In this role, Claudio was deeply committed to addressing the concerns of staff, both researchers and technical-administrative personnel, and to creating a working environment focused above all on the scientific development of young researchers. This commitment remained a constant throughout his career. Many of his former students are now leading researchers in Italy and abroad, carrying his ideas forward. His willingness to share knowledge and experience with younger generations certainly remains one of his most important legacies, as does his generous effort to involve scientists from countries outside the major international research networks, particularly from Eastern Europe, in large-scale international research collaborations. This was a pioneering form of inclusion that today we would call scientific diplomacy.
Some of his scientific ideas have by now become part of the general body of knowledge in theoretical nuclear physics. These include the need for a realistic description of nuclei, the role of short-range correlations, which are essential for describing nuclear interactions at short distances, and the possibility of understanding the electromagnetic structure of the neutron using nuclear targets.
“I had the privilege of collaborating with Claudio during my early years of research in nuclear and nuclear-matter physics. He was one of the few theoretical physicists who did not shy away from phenomenology and collaboration with experimental colleagues. This enabled him to achieve important results for our understanding of the electromagnetic interactions of nuclei,” recalls Stefano Fantoni, an internationally renowned theoretical physicist and former director of the Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati in Trieste. “Claudio built a school that is very well known throughout the world and that will perpetuate his influence in theoretical nuclear physics.”
Claudio’s cultural interests, fuelled by the natural curiosity of a researcher, extended far beyond the technical aspects of his work. In moments of leisure, he was exceptionally knowledgeable, intelligent and engaging, a pleasure to talk to. Claudio leaves behind a great scientific and human legacy. Together with his family, all of us who knew him will do our best to keep his memory alive, with gratitude for all that he gave us.
Claudio Ciofi degli Atti
