Bruno Bertotti, Professor Emeritus of Astrophysics at the University of
Pavia, died on 20 October 2018. His scientific work, spanning over many
fields of physics, has made him one of the leading scientists of his
university. Born in Mantova in 1930,
he was admitted to the Ghislieri College in Pavia and completed his
studies in mathematics (1953) and physics (1954) at the local
university. From 1953 to 1956 he was a scholar at the Dublin Institute
for Advanced Studies, becoming one of the last students
of E. Schroedinger. He then moved to the Institute for Advanced Studies
at Princeton (1958-59), then to the Plasma Physics Laboratory as Senior
Researcher (1959-61). He returned to Italy in 1961, where he worked in
plasma physics as Senior Researcher
at Frascati. He became full professor at the University of Messina in
1967, then at the University of Pavia in 1971, where he remained until
his death. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge and
at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Since his years in Dublin he developed a keen and profound interest in
the physics of gravitation and cosmology. He contributed to the first
volume of the “Encyclopedia of Ignorance”, a collection of writings on
the unsolved problems in physics, with
a chapter entitled “The Riddles of Gravitation” (Pergamon Press, 1977).
He was one of the founders of the Italian Society of Gravitational
Physics (SIGRAV). Among his main scientific achievements, a special
mention must be given to the Bertotti-Robinson
metric, a static, axisymmetric solution of the Einstein-Maxwell
equations, and a precise test of General Relativity with the Cassini
spacecraft. The measurement made a clever use of the Cassini radio
system, otherwise designed for completely different
scientific goals. Carried out in 2002, it is still the most accurate
test of General Relativity to date. He later confessed his frustration
with such long-lived primacy, which in his view only indicated the slow
progress in experimental gravity. The late
interest in space missions motivated in 1990 and 2003 the publication of
“Physics of the Solar System”, an advanced textbook on planetary
physics and dynamics, of which he was the lead author. He felt
profoundly the societal role of science. As a member
of the Union of Italian Scientists for Disarmament (USPID), he was a
convinced supporter of arm control and space surveillance. Worried that
space debris could severely limit the use of circumterrestial space,
which he considered an essential asset for
humankind, he contributed to making space agencies and international
organisations aware of this potential threat. Bruno Bertotti was
demanding of himself and forgiving with others. His students admired him
for the depth and insight of his lectures, always
stimulating and inspiring. He cared profoundly for those with whom he
worked, who felt privileged of his collaboration. Some of them shared
his passion for mountaineering, where they could appreciate even more
his human side.
Luciano Iess
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