The 2019 Medals of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL for Mathematics, the Physical and Natural Sciences, and the Matteucci Medal have been awarded. The first two medals are the most ancient scientific prizes awarded by the Kingdom of Italy just after the country reached its unity. They were created in 1866 by the government to honour eminent Italian scholars of Mathematics and, respectively, Physics and Natural Sciences and the Academy (at the time called Italian Science Society) was appointed for awarding them. Their institution was due to the Minister of Education of the time, the physicists Carlo Matteucci, who was also the president of the Academy from 1866 to 1868. Of his own, he also decided to establish a medal for Physics, which bared his name and was made perpetual by a personal donation. From that time, the three medals have been awarded to outstanding personalities in science, both in Italy and in the world.
Giovanni Alessandrini, Ordinary Professor of Mathematical Analysis in the University of Trieste, is the winner of the 2019 XL Medal for Mathematics due to his innovatory solutions to hybrid inverse problems, geometric properties of solutions of differential equation with partial derivatives, invertible harmonic mappings and their generalizations.
Maria Luce Frezzotti, Associate Professor of Petrology in the University of Milano Bicocca, is the winner for her innovative contributions to Geosciences, particularly on the cycle of carbon, an element of fundamental importance in the development of solid Earth and of Life.
Federico Capasso, Professor of Physics at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA) is the winner for his invention of the quantic cascade laser (QCL), a most important recent innovation in Laser Physics and in Photonics.
All three medals will be handed over during the Opening Ceremony of the 237th Year of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL, on the 23rd of May 2019
