Gleb Watagin Italian physicist, founder of a large scientific school in Brazil. Date of Birth: 03.11.1899 Country: Italy

1. Biography of Gleb Wataghin
2. Journey to Italy
3. Contribution to Brazilian Science
4. Return to Italy
5. Scientific Contributions
6. Honors and Legacy

Biography of Gleb Wataghin

Gleb Wataghin was an Italian physicist and the creator of a prominent scientific school in Brazil. He was born on November 3, 1899, in the village of Birzula in the Kherson Governorate, in a family of a railway engineer, Vasily Wataghin, and Eugenia Gulyanitskaya. By the summer of 1918, he completed his secondary education at a gymnasium in Kiev.

Journey to Italy

In 1920, Wataghin emigrated through Crimea and Greece to Italy, where he settled in Turin. In 1922, he obtained a degree in physics with honors, and in 1924, he received another degree in mathematics, also with honors. He acquired Italian citizenship in 1929. From 1925 to 1933, he taught physics and mathematics at the Royal Academy of Turin and the Turin Military School. In 1933-34, he taught at the University of Turin.

Contribution to Brazilian Science

In 1934, Gleb Wataghin accepted an invitation from the University of São Paulo and moved to Brazil. He nurtured a whole cohort of Brazilian physicists, including Cesar Lattes, Oscar Sala, and Marcelo Schenberg. Wataghin also played a crucial role in creating the Brazilian scientific school by inviting renowned scientists from around the world to teach in Brazil, such as Arthur Compton, Hideki Yukawa, David Bohm, Richard Feynman, and Giuseppe Occhialini.

Return to Italy

In 1949, Wataghin returned to Italy and became a professor at the University of Turin. In 1950, he was elected to the Turin Academy of Sciences. Gleb Wataghin passed away in Turin in 1986.

Scientific Contributions

Gleb Wataghin is known as a pioneer in non-local quantum field theory, and he made significant contributions to the field of cosmic ray physics, including theoretical predictions of secondary particle production at high energies. He also worked on particle statistics at low temperatures, the composition of stars in astrophysics, and the non-local theory of composite models of quarks. He, along with his co-authors, discovered the phenomenon of hadronic showers. Wataghin and Oscar Sala experimentally determined the cross-section of high-energy proton-proton interactions.

Honors and Legacy

In recognition of his contributions, the physics department at the University of Campinas in Brazil and a physics prize are named after Gleb Wataghin.