October 07, 2015
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Tullio Regge (July 11, 1931 in Turin - October 23, 2014) was an Italian theoretical physicist. He obtained a degree in physics from the University of Turin in 1952, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Rochester in 1957 under the direction of Robert Marshak. From 1958 to 1959 Regge held a post at the Max Planck Institute for Physics where he worked with Werner Heisenberg. In 1961 he was appointed to chair of Relativity at the University of Turin. He also held an appointment at the Institute for Advanced Study from 1965 to 1979. Later, he was an emeritus professor at the Polytechnic University of Turin.

In 1957, Regge discovered a mathematical property of potential scattering in the Schrödinger equation — that the scattering amplitude can be thought of as an analytic function of the angular momentum, and that the position of the poles determine power - law growth rates of the amplitude in the purely mathematical region of large values of the cosine of the scattering angle. This formulation is known as Regge theory.

In the early 1960s, Regge introduced Regge calculus, a simplicial formulation of general relativity. Regge calculus was the first discrete gauge theory suitable for numerical simulation, and an early relative of lattice gauge theory. 'Ordinary Professor' at Turin University, he received the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics in 1964, the Città di Como prize in 1968, the Albert Einstein Award in 1979, and the Cecil Powell Medal in 1987.

In 1989, Regge was elected to the European Parliament as a candidate of the Italian Communist Party and served until 1994.

Regge was president of the Turin section of the Association for research for handicap prevention (AIRH).

He was awarded the Dirac Medal in 1996, the Marcel Grossmann Award in 1997, and the Pomeranchuk Prize in 2001. The asteroid3778 Regge has been named after him.

The Regge theory, a theory of strong interaction phenomenology at high energies, is named after him.