In the first half of the XX century Physics in Pisa was characterized by the strong personalities of the two full professors of Experimental Physics who kept in turn the (only) chair in the Institute, directed by Battelli from 1893 to 1916 and by Puccianti from 1917 to 1947. Both were ingenious and expert experimentalists, but both showed only limited interest towards the most recent developments of theoretical physics. As a consequence, while being undoubtedly able to form new generations of well trained and high quality scientists (from Occhialini père, Perucca and Brunetti to Polvani, Ronchi, Carrara, Bolla, Bernardini, Gentile jr, Budinich, Borsellino, Gozzini, Verde and Castagnoli, not to mention Fermi and Rasetti), they never really favored the birth of a local school of Theoretical Physics, thus opening a hiatus in the local culture, to be filled (with some pain) only in the second half of the century.
Physics in Pisa in the first half of the XX century: a reappraisal
Paolo Rossi
2019-01-01
Abstract
In the first half of the XX century Physics in Pisa was characterized by the strong personalities of the two full professors of Experimental Physics who kept in turn the (only) chair in the Institute, directed by Battelli from 1893 to 1916 and by Puccianti from 1917 to 1947. Both were ingenious and expert experimentalists, but both showed only limited interest towards the most recent developments of theoretical physics. As a consequence, while being undoubtedly able to form new generations of well trained and high quality scientists (from Occhialini père, Perucca and Brunetti to Polvani, Ronchi, Carrara, Bolla, Bernardini, Gentile jr, Budinich, Borsellino, Gozzini, Verde and Castagnoli, not to mention Fermi and Rasetti), they never really favored the birth of a local school of Theoretical Physics, thus opening a hiatus in the local culture, to be filled (with some pain) only in the second half of the century.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
