Background
Riccardo Giacconi was born on October 6, 1931 in Genoa, Italy. He is a son of Antonio and Elsa (Canni) Giacconi.
(Beyond the range of optical perception--and of ordinary i...)
Beyond the range of optical perception--and of ordinary imaginings--a new and violent universe lay undetected until the advent of space exploration. Supernovae, black holes, quasars and pulsars--these were the secrets of the highenergy world revealed when, for the first time, astronomers attached their instruments to rockets and lofted them beyond the earth's x-ray-absorbing atmosphere. The X-Ray Universe is the story of these explorations and the fantastic new science they brought into being. It is a first-hand account: Riccardo Giacconi is one of the principal pioneers of the field, and Wallace Tucker is a theorist who worked closely with him at many critical periods. The book carries the reader from the early days of the Naval Research Laboratory through the era of V-2 rocketry, Sputnik, and the birth of NASA, to the launching of the Einstein X-Ray Observatory. But this is by no means just a history. Behind the suspenseful, sometimes humorous details of human personality grappling with high technology lies a sophisticated exposition of current cosmology and astrophysics, from the rise and fall of the steady-state theory to the search for the missing mass of the universe.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674962850/?tag=2022091-20
1985
(The discovery of x-rays continues to have a profound and ...)
The discovery of x-rays continues to have a profound and accelerating effect on the field of astronomy. It has opened the cosmos to exploration in ways previously unimaginable and fundamentally altered the methods for pursuing information about our solar system and beyond. Nobel Prize winner Riccardo Giacconi’s highly personal account of the birth and evolution of x-ray astronomy reveals the science, people, and institutional settings behind this incalculably important and deeply influential discipline. Part history, part memoir, and part cutting-edge science, Secrets of the Hoary Deep is the tale of x-ray astronomy from its infancy through what can only be called its early adulthood. It also offers the companion story of how the tools, techniques, and practices designed to support and develop x-ray astronomy were transferred to optical, infrared, and radio astronomy, drastically altering the face of modern space exploration. Giacconi relates the basic techniques developed at American Science and Engineering and explains how, where, and by whom the science was advanced. From the first Earth-orbiting x-ray satellite, Uhuru, to the opening of the Space Telescope Science Institute and the lift-off of the Hubble Space Telescope to the construction of the Very Large Telescope, Giaconni recounts the ways in which the management methods and scientific methodology behind successful astronomy projects came to set the standards of operations for all subsequent space- and Earth-based observatories. Along the way he spares no criticism and holds back no praise, detailing individual as well as institutional failures and successes, reflecting upon how far astronomy has come and how far it has yet to go. Crisp, informative, and prognostic, Giacconi’s story will captivate, inspire, and, at times, possibly infuriate professional and amateur astronomers across the breadth of the field and at all stages of their personal and professional development.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801888093/?tag=2022091-20
2008
astrophysicist educator scientist
Riccardo Giacconi was born on October 6, 1931 in Genoa, Italy. He is a son of Antonio and Elsa (Canni) Giacconi.
Giacconi received his Laurea from the University of Milan. He also had post-graduate studies at Indiana and Princeton universities.
Giacconi became a teacher at University of Milan in 1954. He was a researcher at American Science and Engineering in 1959 and worked there till 1973. Since 1973 till 1981, he was an associate director of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge. In 1981, he went to Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, where he held the position of director. Since 1993, he works as a director of European Southern Observatory.
(Beyond the range of optical perception--and of ordinary i...)
1985(The discovery of x-rays continues to have a profound and ...)
2008Member American Astronomical Society (chairman hign energy astrophysics department 1976-1977, councilor 1979-1982, task group on directions in space science since 1995, Henry Norris Russel lecturer 1981, Darwin lecturer Royal Society 1993), American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Astronomical Union (national Academy Sciences representative 1979-1982), National Academy Sciences, American Academy Arts and Sciences, Maryland. Academy Science (science county since 1982), Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (foreign), Royal Astronomical Society, American Physical Society.
Giacconi married Mirella Manaira on February 15, 1957. They have children: Guia Giacconi Trutter, Anna Lee, Marc A.