Honorary degree to Rolfs, father of nuclear astrophysics

The University of Naples Federico II enrolls Professor Claus Ernst Rolfs in its roll of honor. On June 15 in a ceremony in the Aula Magna, the University will confer anhonorary degree in Physics on the distinguished German scientist for his notable contributions to the development of nuclear astrophysics.

A tireless scholar and researcher, in the 1970s after returning from America to Germany, he started a group of researchers who began to study those nuclear reactions that play a fundamental role in understanding the mechanism of functioning of stars, from their birth to death giving birth toExperimental Nuclear Astrophysics, a science of which he is considered the founding father.

Since then his intense scientific activity has earned him a series of important international awards: from the Rontegen Award he received in 1979, the International Scientific Exange Award in 1989, the Alexander von Humbold Award also in '89 to his appointment as an honorary member of the Physics Society of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Also important were the exchanges Professor Rolfs has woven with Naples and the Federico II. "In the 1970s, the scientist's first interactions with our University began," comments Professor Mario Romano, among Rolfs' closest collaborators during his time in Naples, "thanks to which interest in Nuclear Astrophysics activities at the Department of Physics and the Neapolitan Section of the Institute of Nuclear Physics also developed in Naples.
It was such a fruitful collaboration between the professor and the Federico II that led, in the second half of the 1990s, to the production of the first radioactive ion beam in Italy and the first ƒYBe ion beam ever produced in the world.

The honorary degree ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. with greetings from Rector Guido Trombetti and the dean of the Faculty of MM. FF. NN. Alberto Di Donato, who, of conferments of this kind, emphasizes the universal value. "This honorary degree, but in general all of them, indicates that science does not belong to just one university, one nation, one country," commented Dean Di Donato. "It is the triumph and celebration of a universal science and a force that promotes dialogue between peoples and people.

Professor Mario Romano was tasked with expounding in the Laudatio Accademica the reasons for the University's conferral of recognition on Professor Rolfs. This was followed by the Testatio Accademica and the conferral of the degree.

To mark the recognition, the University's Department of Physical Sciences has organized a workshop that will start at 3:30 p.m. with greetings from Dean Di Donato, Professor Francesco Cevenini, director of the Department of Physical Sciences, and Professor Leonardo Merola, director of the Naples INFN Section. This will be followed by talks by some professors: Roberto Gallino on "The origin of the elements," Filippo Terrasi on "Observing stars in Laboratories," Gianni Fiorentini on "A special Moonrise" and Claudio Spitaleri on "The Trojan Horse Method: an in direct tecnique in nuclear astrophysics." The workshop will be held on the MSA University Campus in room 2M05. (a.m.)