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ICTP was saddened to hear of the passing of Giuseppe Furlan, a professor of theoretical physics who had been involved with ICTP from its inception.
Born in Trieste in 1935, Furlan, known as “Pino” by his colleagues and friends, graduated from the University of Trieste in 1958 with a degree in physics. In 1960, he attended the important scientific conference organized by the University of Trieste at the Castelletto in the Miramare Park that sparked the birth of ICTP. The event attracted a number of high-level scientists, including Abdus Salam (who was visiting Trieste for the first time) and Trieste physicist Paolo Budinich, a beloved mentor of Furlan’s. During the meeting, Salam and Budinich discussed the creation of a theoretical physics institute open to scientists from around the world. Furlan remembered, “I was impressed from then on by Abdus Salam’s lively imagination and by the quickness of his thought.”
Salam and Budinich succeeded in opening ICTP in 1964, and Furlan, who had been at CERN for a few years, returned to Trieste “with a personal contribution of advanced ideas and personal contacts”. He began his affiliation with ICTP as supervisor for research in elementary particle physics, and then coordinator of ICTP’s activities in environmental physics, while serving from 1968 onwards as an influential theoretical professor at Trieste University.
In 1983, Furlan became the founding head of ICTP’s Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL), a programme created in response to a growing need for scientists from developing countries to participate in high-level experimental research. Through TRIL, scientists from developing countries undertake training and research in Italian laboratories in various areas of research, from materials science to fluid dynamics to astroparticle physics. Since its beginning, more than 1328 scientists from 89 developing countries have participated in TRIL, working side-by-side with Italian researchers at the more than 200 laboratories with which ICTP has established agreements.
Furlan’s years of experience leading one of ICTP’s most successful programmes led to his reflection that “The contacts with our less fortunate colleagues from developing countries and the many visits to their countries have strengthened my conviction that we have contributed in creating a strong group of qualified scientists, sincere interlocutors and appraisers of Italy, who continue, through academic excellence and cultural awareness, to pursue progress for their countries, and to be better citizens of our world.”
Editor’s note: quotations by Furlan appeared in the book “From a Vision to a System: The International Centre for Theoretical Physics of Trieste (1964-1994)”, Editor: A.M. Hamende.
