The International Day of Light and the 2018 EPS-Edison-Volta prize
The International Day of Light, chosen by UNESCO to celebrate the light, all over the world, on May 16 of each year, had its first edition in Italy in the beautiful setting of the Teatro Sociale in Como. The ceremony took place in a gala evening where the scientific event was accompanied by music, readings and illusionism performance having light as an inspiring theme.
On this occasion, in the presence of the local authorities, the scientific committee of the “Lake Como Festival of Light”, the representatives of Edison and the Alessandro Volta Foundation, and in collaboration with the Italian Physical Society, the 2018 Physics Prize “EPS-Edison-Volta” was awarded. The laureates were four important scientists: “in their respective countries, they can be considered the fathers of interferometric techniques and innovative experimental solutions, that enabled to detect gravitational waves coming from black holes and neutron stars “.
The President of the Italian Physical Society, Luisa Cifarelli, conferred the prize to Alain Brillet (Observatoire de la Cote d’Azur, Nice, France), to Karsten Danzmann (Max Planck AEI and Leibnitz University, Hannover, Germany), to Jim Hough (University of Glasgow, UK), and, in the case of Adalberto Giazotto (INFN, Pisa), to his widow Lidia Volpicelli.
Furthermore, Guido Menichetti, of the Italian Institute of Technology, was awarded the scholarship in memory of Francesco Somaini, which Edison gives to encourage a young researcher to carry out research in the field of Physics at a foreign institution, in particular with regard to energy issues.
The evening was concluded with a beautiful performance by Eugenio Coccia, Rector of the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), who told in a simple and compelling way the meaning of the discovery of gravitational waves.
