Giovanni Bignami

Career

Bignami graduated from the University of Milan in 1968 with a degree in physics. From 1988 to 1997, he was the Principal Investigator for the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton mission, and was a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the IUSS Pavia in Pavia. He is most known for his discovery of the neutron star Geminga. From 2004 to 2007, he was President of the Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC) of the European Space Agency, and from 2007 to 2008, he was Chairman of the Italian Space Agency. Bignami stood as a Democratic Party candidate for Lombardy, Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta and Liguria in the 2009 European Parliament election. His campaign slogan was "Più ricerca in Italia, più futuro in Europa" ("More research in Italy and Europe.") He was not elected. In 2010, he was elected President of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), the first Italian to do so. He held the post until 2014. From 2011 until 2015, Bignami was also President of INAF.

Bignami received several honours, including the Bruno Rossi Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the Blaise Pascal Medal for Astrophysics from the European Academy of Sciences and the Von Karman Award from the International Academy of Astronautics. He also was named Officier of the Légion d’Honneur and the Ordre national du Mérite, and member of the Accademia dei Lincei and of the French Academy of Sciences.

Bignami died on 24 May 2017 in Madrid, Spain.