Editing Riccardo Giacconi (section)

== Biography ==
Born in [[Genoa]], Italy, Giacconi received his [[Laurea#Former status of the Laurea degree|Laurea]] from the [[Milan school of physics|Physics Department]] of [[University of Milan]] before moving to the US to pursue a career in [[astrophysics]] research. In 1956, his [[U.S.-Italy Fulbright Commission|Fulbright Fellowship]] led him to  go to the United States to collaborate with physics professor R. W. Thompson at [[Indiana University]].

Since cosmic X-ray radiation is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, space-based telescopes are needed for X-ray astronomy.  Applying himself to this problem, Giacconi worked on the instrumentation for X-ray astronomy; from rocket-borne detectors in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to [[Uhuru (satellite)|Uhuru]], the first orbiting X-ray astronomy satellite, in the 1970s.  Giacconi's pioneering research continued in 1978 with the [[Einstein Observatory]], the first fully imaging X-ray telescope put into space, and later with the [[Chandra X-ray Observatory]], which was launched in 1999 and is still in operation.

Giacconi applied his expertise to other fields of astronomy, becoming the first permanent director (1981-1993) of the [[Space Telescope Science Institute]] (the science operations center for the [[Hubble Space Telescope]]). This was followed by Director General of the [[European Southern Observatory]] (ESO) from 1993 to 1999, overseeing the construction of the [[Very Large Telescope]], then President of [[Associated Universities, Inc.]] (1999-2004) managing the early years of the [[Atacama Large Millimeter Array|ALMA]] array.

Giacconi was awarded a share of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 2002 "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of [[Astrophysical X-ray source|cosmic X-ray sources]]".<ref name="NobelCitation">[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2002/ Nobel prize citation]</ref> The other shares of the Prize in that year were awarded to [[Masatoshi Koshiba]] and [[Raymond Davis, Jr.]] for neutrino astronomy.

Giacconi held the positions of professor of physics and astronomy (1982–1997) and research professor (from 1998 to his death in 2018) at [[Johns Hopkins University]], and was a university professor.  During the 2000s he was [[principal investigator]] for the major Chandra Deep Field-South project with [[NASA]]'s [[Chandra X-ray Observatory]]. Giacconi died on December 9, 2018.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/science/riccardo-giacconi-dead.html |title = Riccardo Giacconi, 87, Explorer of the Universe Through X-Rays, Dies|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2018-12-13|last1 = Overbye|first1 = Dennis}}</ref><ref>[https://www.repubblica.it/scienze/2018/12/10/news/e_morto_il_fisico_riccardo_giacconi_nobel_nel_2002_padre_dell_astronomia_a_raggi_x-213929786/] {{in lang|it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://hub.jhu.edu/2018/12/12/riccardo-giacconi-obituary/ |title = Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Riccardo Giacconi dies at 87|date = 2018-12-12}}</ref>