Margherita Hack

Margherita Hack ((born 12 June 1922, Florence) is one of the most important Italian scientists. She is well-known in the worldwide astrophysical research. She is the first woman to hold an astronomical observatory in Italy, raising people´s awareness about physical topics and giving an important contribution to the astrophysical research and the stellar classification.

She was full Professor of Astronomy at the University of Trieste and director of the Astronomic Department in Trieste from 1964 to 1978 - making it well-known at international level. As a member of the most prestigious physical and astronomic Societies, she has been working for several American and European observatories and has also been a member of the working groups of ESA and NASA for a long time. In Italy, she promoted our astronomical community - especially in the use of satellites. He is very well-known not only for her sympathy but also for her ability to popularize difficult topics with scientific nature.

In 1995, she was awarded with the prize “Premio Internazionale Cortina Ulisse” for scientific popularization. She is a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, International Astronomical Union and Royal Astronomical Society. In 1992, she retired and became professor emeritus in 1998 – always developing her research activity.

In 1993 she became town councillor in Trieste. From 1997 she has been in retirement - but she is still playing the role of director of the "Centro Interuniversitario Regionale per l'Astrofisica e la Cosmologia" (CIRAC) in Trieste. She got several awards and acknowledgements during her life and career: here it´s worth to mention the honour "Cavaliere di gran croce dell'Ordine al merito della Repubblica italiana" for her engagement in the scientific research and in the society role – standing as an example of coherence and dedication for the young generations (June 12, 2012).

Margherita Hack is against the construction of nuclear plants in Italy but she is still promoting the nuclear research in Italy - because she thinks that Italy is not a reliable country and it is not able to safely manage nuclear reactors. She thinks that there is "an irrational, scientific fear of nuclear energy" that would be less polluting then oil, natural gas and carbon –we would use such materials in any case". He attaches great importance to the research in this field and to the need of "developing renewable energies as much as possible" in order to satisfy our energy needs.

She is an animal activist and has been a vegetarian since her childhood. She stated about meat: "I would never eat it because it is terrible to kill millions and millions of animals...every day a big slaughter takes place on our earth".

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