Oreste Piccioni
Encyclopedia
Oreste Piccioni was an Italian-American physicist who made important contributions to elementary particle physics during the early years of its history.
He was a graduate student of Enrico Fermi
at the University of Rome, receiving his doctorate in 1938
.
Remaining in Italy during World War II
, he did fundamental research under difficult conditions in the basement of a high school, which first clarified the nature of the muon
.
In 1946 he emigrated to the United States
, where he worked first at MIT with Bruno Rossi
, and then at BNL
's Cosmotron
, developing faster nuclear electronics and essential techniques for extracting, transporting, and focusing beams of high energy particles.
Later at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Radiation laboratory
(LBL) he was a codiscover of the antineutron
in 1955 at the Bevatron
.
His important contributions to the design of the experiment that discovered the antiproton
in 1955 were acknowledged in the 1959 ceremony in which the Nobel Prize
in physics was awarded to E. Segrè
and O. Chamberlain
.
Unfortunately a famous quarrel over credit and priority for the discovery embittered Piccioni for much of his later life, to the point that he filed a lawsuit in 1972 against Segrè and Chamberlain, seeking damages and public acknowledgment of his contributions. The suit was ultimately dismissed as filed too late for consideration of the issues.
An important theoretical paper
with Abraham Pais
in 1955 considered regeneration in neutral kaon
mixing.
In 1960 he joined the faculty of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), where his group made the first measurement of the neutral kaon K1-K2 mass difference
.
Piccioni retired from UCSD as Professor Emeritus in 1986, but continued to give review talks and work in the investigation of fundamental problems in quantum mechanics.
In 1999 he was awarded the Mattuecci Medal by the Academia Nazionale delle Scienze (National Academy of Sciences) in Italy.
He was a graduate student of Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
at the University of Rome, receiving his doctorate in 1938
.
Remaining in Italy during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he did fundamental research under difficult conditions in the basement of a high school, which first clarified the nature of the muon
Muon
The muon |mu]] used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with a unitary negative electric charge and a spin of ½. Together with the electron, the tau, and the three neutrinos, it is classified as a lepton...
.
In 1946 he emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he worked first at MIT with Bruno Rossi
Bruno Rossi
Bruno Benedetto Rossi was a leading Italian-American experimental physicist. He made major contributions to cosmic ray and particle physics from 1930 through the 1950s, and pioneered X-ray astronomy and space plasma physics in the 1960s.-Biography:Rossi was born in Venice, Italy...
, and then at BNL
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...
's Cosmotron
Cosmotron
The Cosmotron was a particle accelerator, specifically a proton synchrotron, at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Its construction was approved by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1948, it reached its full energy in 1953, and it continued running until 1968...
, developing faster nuclear electronics and essential techniques for extracting, transporting, and focusing beams of high energy particles.
Later at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Radiation laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. It is located on the grounds of the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Hills above the central campus...
(LBL) he was a codiscover of the antineutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
in 1955 at the Bevatron
Bevatron
The Bevatron was a historic particle accelerator — specifically, a weak-focusing proton synchrotron — at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, U.S.A., which began operating in 1954. The antiproton was discovered there in 1955, resulting in the 1959 Nobel Prize in physics for Emilio...
.
His important contributions to the design of the experiment that discovered the antiproton
Antiproton
The antiproton is the antiparticle of the proton. Antiprotons are stable, but they are typically short-lived since any collision with a proton will cause both particles to be annihilated in a burst of energy....
in 1955 were acknowledged in the 1959 ceremony in which the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in physics was awarded to E. Segrè
Emilio G. Segrè
Emilio Gino Segrè was an Italian-born, naturalized American, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics, who with Owen Chamberlain, discovered antiprotons, a sub-atomic antiparticle.-Biography:...
and O. Chamberlain
Owen Chamberlain
Owen Chamberlain was an American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his discovery, with collaborator Emilio Segrè, of antiprotons, a sub-atomic antiparticle.-Biography:...
.
Unfortunately a famous quarrel over credit and priority for the discovery embittered Piccioni for much of his later life, to the point that he filed a lawsuit in 1972 against Segrè and Chamberlain, seeking damages and public acknowledgment of his contributions. The suit was ultimately dismissed as filed too late for consideration of the issues.
An important theoretical paper
with Abraham Pais
Abraham Pais
Abraham Pais was a Dutch-born American physicist and science historian. Pais earned his Ph.D. from University of Utrecht just prior to a Nazi ban on Jewish participation in Dutch universities during World War II...
in 1955 considered regeneration in neutral kaon
Kaon
In particle physics, a kaon is any one of a group of four mesons distinguished by the fact that they carry a quantum number called strangeness...
mixing.
In 1960 he joined the faculty of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), where his group made the first measurement of the neutral kaon K1-K2 mass difference
.
Piccioni retired from UCSD as Professor Emeritus in 1986, but continued to give review talks and work in the investigation of fundamental problems in quantum mechanics.
In 1999 he was awarded the Mattuecci Medal by the Academia Nazionale delle Scienze (National Academy of Sciences) in Italy.
Selected publications
- On the Disintegraton of Negative Mesons. With M. Conversi and E. Pancini. Phys. Rev. 71, 209 (1947).
- External Proton Beam of the Cosmotron. With D. Clark et al. Rev. of Scien. Instruments 26, 232 (1955).
- Note on the Decay and Absorption of the Theta-zero. With A. Pais. Phys. Rev. 100, 1487 (1955).
- Antineutrons Produced fron Antiprotons in Charge Exchange Collisions. With B. Cork et al. Phys. Rev. 104, 1193 (1956).
- Regeneration of Neutral K Mesons and their Mass Difference. With R. Good et al. Phys. Rev. 124, 1223 (1961).
- Is the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox Demanded by Quantum Mechanics? With P. Bowles et al. In Open Questions in Quantum Physics. Ed. G. Tarozzi and A. van der Merwe. D. Reidel Publishing Co., Holland 103-118 (1984).
- A Discussion of the EPR Contained in QM Terms without Arguments of Politics or Bell's Relations. With W. Mehlhop. In Proc. of Symposium "New Techniques and Ideas in Quantum Measurement Theory", New York, Annals of New York Academy of Sciences 480, 458 (1987).
- Bell's Theorem and the Foundation of Modern Physics. Ed. A. van der Mezne and F. SelleriFranco SelleriFranco Selleri is an Italian Theoretical Physicist and professor at Bari University. He received his Ph.D. cum laude from Bologna University in 1958, and has been a fellow of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare since 1959...
. World Scientific Publishing Co., Cesena, Italy, October 1991.