Massimo Capaccioli: A Life for Astronomy

Abstract

Massimo Capaccioli was born in 1944 in Castel del Piano, a small village in the “Maremma”, a region in the heart of Tuscany. At the age of eight he moved to Mestre, near Venice, maintaining however a deep affection for his roots, often defining himself as a “maremmano”. In Mestre he attended schools and in 1964 obtained the diploma at the Scientific Lyceum Giovan Battista Benedetti. He remained in Mestre other three years, commuting every day to Padua to follow the courses of the Laurea in Physics. In 1967 his parents moved to Trieste and he decided to live in Padua, which would become his home for the next 25 years. There, in 1969, he graduated in Physics discussing a thesis on the Hubble law under the supervision of Leonida Rosino and Francesco Bertola with whom he also published his first paper [1]. The same year he was appointed assistant professor in astronomy at the University of Padua, a position he maintained until 1976 when he was promoted adjunct professor of celestial mechanics. From 1972 to 1976, he also thought Mechanics and Cosmology at the University of Lecce, and General Physics and Introductory Analysis at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Venice. These were years of intense scientific and academic work during which Massimo built a rich network of international collaborations. First among all, his long lasting collaboration with Gerard Henr de Vaucouleurs, among the fathers of modern observational cosmology who at the time was professor of Astronomy at the University of Texas in Austin. Capaccioli visited Austin several times and in 1985 was also appointed visiting professor. Quickly moving up in the academic career, Capaccioli became first associate professor (1980) then, in 1986, Director of Research at the Astronomical Observatory of Padua, a non-academic position which he held until 1990, when he was finally appointed full professor of celestial mechanics at the University of Padua. In the meanwhile, however, the scientific and personal baricenter of his life was slowly shifting to Naples where in 1992 Capaccioli was appointed Director of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte. A professional and personal transition which became definitive in 1995, when he was called to cover the chair of astronomy at the University Federico II in Napoli.