Riccardo Giacconi
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Riccardo Giacconi
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2002
Born: 6 October 1931, Genoa, Italy
Died: 16 December 2018, La Jolla, CA, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Associated Universities Inc., Washington, D.C., USA
Prize motivation: “for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
Stars and galaxies emit not only visible light, but also X-rays. However, the X-rays dissipate as they pass through the earth’s atmosphere, so X-rays from the cosmos have to be studied by means of telescopes in satellites. Beginning in the 1960s, Riccardo Giacconi made several pivotal contributions to the development of such telescopes. With the telescopes, he discovered X-ray sources outside our own solar system, cosmic background radiation with X-ray wavelengths as well as X-ray sources that probably contain black holes.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
