ASI | Italian space agency

The professor passed away on July 17th Giuseppe Cesar Perola. ASI, a participant in the anguish of his family and many of his disciples, would like to remember the essential role of mentor he played in all sectors of high-energy space astrophysics.

“In recent years, Professor Giuseppe Cesar Perola has been an indispensable reference point for the national scientific community. His contribution to the design and implementation of the Beppo-SAX mission was decisive in achieving the important results obtained with this satellite “- says Barbara Negri, Head of the Aeronautical Unit Human and Scientific Experiments in ASI.

One of the main factors behind Beppo-SAX’s success was its intuition of the need to set up all the software and hardware needed for data analysis in a timely manner. This laid the foundations of what is today, and which has now extended to many other branches of space science, ASI’s Space Science Data Center, in collaboration with INAF and INFN.

Another essential contribution was the preparation and direction of work requested by ASI by a group of researchers from INAF, INFN and the University, who in 2004 revised their knowledge of high-energy astrophysics, on the state of theoretical modeling and national technological skills. This review aimed to identify a network of experiences in which Italy could participate at a highly competitive level. The results of this study played a fundamental role in uniting the national community in highly competitive projects.

Barbara Negri concludes that his “lack of competence and authority would leave a difficult void to fill in the astrophysical world”.