Luciano Maiani, born in 1941, is emeritus professor of theoretical physics
at the University of Rome, \La Sapienza", and author of more than two hundred
scienti_c publications on the theoretical physics of elementary particles.
He, together with S. Glashow and J. Iliopoulos, made the prediction of a new
family of particles, those with \charm", which form an essential part of the
uni_ed theory of the weak and electromagnetic forces. He has been president
of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Director-General of
CERN in Geneva and president of the Italian National Council for Research
(CNR). He promoted the development of the Virgo Observatory for gravitational
wave detection, the neutrino beam from CERN to Gran Sasso and at
CERN directed the crucial phases of the construction of the Large Hadron
Collider. He has taught and worked in numerous foreign institutes. He was
head of the theoretical physics department at the University of Rome, \La
Sapienza", from 1976 to 1984 and held the chair of theoretical physics from
1984 to 2011. He is a member of the Italian Lincean Academy and a Fellow
of the American Physical Society.
Omar Benhar, born in 1953, is an INFN research director and teaches gauge
theories at the University of Rome, \La Sapienza". He has worked extensively
in the USA as visiting professor, at the University of Illinois and the Old
Dominion University, as well as associate scientist at the Thomas Je_erson
National Accelerator Facility. Since 2013, he has served as an adjunct professor
at the Centre for Neutrino Physics of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University. He is the author of more than a hundred scienti_c papers
on the theory of many-particle systems, the structure of compact stars and
electroweak interactions of nuclei.