Physicists from Italy

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Italians Physicists of all time. This list of famous Italians Physicists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Italians Physicists.

1. #1

   

   Alessandro Volta

   1745 - 1827

   HPI 85.34107 langs

   Alessandro Volta is most famous for his voltaic pile, which was the first battery.

2. #2

   

   Evangelista Torricelli

   1608 - 1647

   HPI 84.2784 langs

   Torricelli is most famous for his invention of the barometer.

3. #3

   

   Enrico Fermi

   1901 - 1954

   HPI 83.22147 langs

   Enrico Fermi is most famous for the invention of the first nuclear reactor.

4. #4

   

   Luigi Galvani

   1737 - 1798

   HPI 80.2973 langs

   Luigi Galvani was a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna. He is most famous for his work with electricity and animal tissue. He...Read moreShow less

   Luigi Galvani was a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna. He is most famous for his work with electricity and animal tissue. He discovered that electricity could make muscles contract in frogs and other animals.

5. #5

   

   Emilio Segrè

   1905 - 1989

   HPI 74.4574 langs

   Emilio Segrè was an Italian-American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1959 for his discovery of the antiproton.

6. #6

   

   Laura Bassi

   1711 - 1778

   HPI 73.6851 langs

   Laura Bassi was an Italian physicist and mathematician who became the first woman to teach at a European university. She was also the first...Read moreShow less

   Laura Bassi was an Italian physicist and mathematician who became the first woman to teach at a European university. She was also the first woman to receive a doctorate in physics from a European university.

7. #7

   

   Francesco Maria Grimaldi

   1618 - 1663

   HPI 71.4239 langs

   Francesco Maria Grimaldi is most famous for his discovery of the diffraction of light.

8. #8

   

   Ettore Majorana

   1906 - 1959

   HPI 70.8138 langs

   Ettore Majorana was an Italian physicist who disappeared in 1938. Majorana is most famous for his proposal of the Majorana particle, a...Read moreShow less

   Ettore Majorana was an Italian physicist who disappeared in 1938. Majorana is most famous for his proposal of the Majorana particle, a particle that is its own antiparticle.

9. #9

   

   Carlo Rubbia

   b. 1934

   HPI 69.3472 langs

   Carlo Rubbia is most famous for winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 for his work on the discovery of the W and Z particles.

10. #10

    

    Giovanni Battista Venturi

    1746 - 1822

    HPI 66.4630 langs

    Giovanni Battista Venturi was a Renaissance architect and engineer who is most famous for his work on the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in...Read moreShow less

    Giovanni Battista Venturi was a Renaissance architect and engineer who is most famous for his work on the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.