Lucio Russo was born in Venice, Italy, on 22 November
1944. He attended high school at the Liceo Ginnasio
Giambattista Vico in Naples; in the same city he then studied
at the Università degli Studi Federico II, from which he
graduated cum laude in 1969 with a thesis on quantum
diffusion (Laurea in physics). In 1970–72 he held a
research fellowship at the Istituto di Fisica Teorica of
Naples and in 1973–78 he was adjunct professor (professore
incaricato) at the University of Naples. In 1977–80 he was
assistant professor of Rational Mechanics at the University
of Modena, becoming full professor there in 1980. In 1982 he
spent a research period at the Institut des Hautes Études
Scientifiques (Bures-sur-Yvette, France), and in 1982–83 he
was visiting professor at Princeton University (USA). From
1984 until his retirement in 2015 he was full professor at
University Tor Vergata of Rome. In 1999–2000 and 2000–2001 he
obtained a secondment at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.
In 2010 he was awarded the International Prize “Tullio
Levi-Civita” for the Mathematical and Mechanical
Sciences.
During his professorship he taught, among other courses,
Probability, General Physics, Rational Mechanics,
Mathematical Methods for Physics, Mathematical Physics,
Partial Differential Equations, Numerical Analysis, Real
Analysis, History of Science, History of Mathematics.
His research activity covered several topics, from
statistical mechanics (Gibbs measures of the Ising model) to
probability theory (percolation theory, finite systems of
random variables), reconstruction of images and recognition
of shapes, chaotic nonlinear transformations (Hénon map) and
history of science. Among his books, The Forgotten
Revolution (Springer, 2004), Segmenti e bastoncini
(Feltrinelli, 1998), Flussi e riflussi (Feltrinelli,
2003), Ingegni minuti (Feltrinelli, 2010; with E.
Santoni), L'America dimenticata (Mondadori Università,
2013), and Stelle, atomi e velieri (Mondadori
Università, 2015).
His results in technical directions, as well as his
contributions in history of science, have been characterized
by remarkable ingenuity and freshness, answering some
important questions and asking interesting new ones.
We, editors of this special issue, dedicate it to Lucio in
friendship and admiration, on behalf of the whole Editorial
Board of MEMOCS.
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