INFN founded the “Galileo Galilei Medal” award in honour of the father of the scientific method and of modern physics. The award was created in 2018 when the GGI was established as an INFN National Centre for Advanced Studies, in partnership with the University of Florence. Starting from 2019, the Galileo Galilei Medal is assigned every two years by an international committee appointed by INFN.
The medal is awarded to one or more scientists (three at the most) who, in the 25 years before the date of the award, have achieved outstanding results on the areas of theoretical physics of interest to INFN, such as fundamental interactions between elementary particles, including gravity and nuclear phenomena.
The Medal
The Galileo Galilei Medal was crafted by a famous Florentine workshop, Picchiani&Barlacchi, with over a century of tradition of artistic and commemorative medals, plaques and trophies.
The Galileo Galilei Medal 2021 was awarded towas awarded to Alessandra Buonanno, Thibault Damour and Frans Pretorius “for the fundamental understanding of sources of gravitational radiation by complementary analytic and numerical techniques, enabling predictions that have been confirmed by gravitational wave observations and are now key tools in this new branch of astronomy”.
The Galileo Galilei Medal 2019 was awarded to Juan Martin Maldacena with the following motivation: “For his ground-breaking ideas in theoretical physics, and especially for the discovery of duality between gravity and ordinary quantum field theory, with far-reaching implications.” Born in Buenos Aires in 1968, Juan Martin Maldacena is one of the most influential theoretical physicists in the last decades. His ideas have opened new scenarios in string theory, field theory and quantum gravity. He is currently a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (USA).