Tracking the Elusive: 50 Years of High Precision Measurements with Luigi Rolandi

Friday Nov 7, 2025, 9:00 AM → 11:30 PM Europe/Rome

Sala Stemmi (Pisa)

Franco Ligabue (SNS & INFN-Pisa), Michael Joseph Morello (SNS & INFN-Pisa)

 

Please join us to celebrate with Professor Luigi Rolandi as we honor his extraordinary career. From his early days at the University of Trieste to his impactful work at CERN, Gigi has been a key figure in experimental particle physics. He played a pivotal role in the ALEPH experiment, contributing to the design and construction of the apparatus that led to high-precision measurements of the Z boson and the determination of the number of neutrino families. In the late 1990s, he took on the ambitious challenge of the CMS Tracker Project joining the CMS Collaboration. His significant contributions to the construction and commissioning of the CMS experiment, along with his leadership in physical analyses, were crucial to the effort that culminated in the announcement of the Higgs boson discovery on July 4, 2012. In recent years, as a Full Professor of Experimental Physics at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Gigi has come full circle—returning to the very institution where he was a talented student. There, he has dedicated himself to training a new generation of experimental physicists who now hold leading positions in the field. This conference is a tribute to his lasting legacy in science, mentorship, and discovery.

9:30 AM → 11:00 AM Session 1

9:30 AM Welcome by the deputy Director of Scuola Normale Superiore

Speaker: Tommaso Pizzorusso

9:45 AM Welcome by the Director of INFN Sezione di Pisa

Speaker: Dr Paolo Spagnolo (INFN Sezione di Pisa)

10:00 AM From Tau physics to sailing (or viceversa?)

Speaker: Prof. Anna Gregorio (Università degli Studi di Trieste)

10:25 AM The Pioneers of FRAMM: From the Pion Radius to the Charm Lifetime

Speaker: Prof. Francesco Fidecaro (Università di Pisa)

11:00 AM → 11:30 AM Coffee break

11:30 AM → 1:00 PM Session 1

11:30 AM The Amazing ALEPH TPC: how we made it

Speaker: Prof. Francesco Ragusa (Università degli Studi di Milano Statale)

11:55 AM The ALEPH Way

Speaker: Prof. Ramon Miquel (Institut de Fisica d'Altes Energies, Barcelona (Spain))

12:20 PM The start and end (?) of ALEPH

Speaker: Dr Roberto Tenchini (INFN Sezione di Pisa)

1:00 PM → 2:00 PM Lunch

3:00 PM → 4:40 PM Session 2

3:00 PM Behind the scenes of Open Science

Speaker: Dr Salvatore Mele (CERN)

3:25 PM Memories from the genesis of the CMS Tracker

Speaker: Dr Duccio Abbaneo (CERN)

3:50 PM Unforgettable first years of CMS data taking

Speaker: Prof. Guenther Dissertori (ETH Zürich (Switzerland))

4:15 PM From Despair to Discovery: The Hunt for the Higgs Boson

Speaker: Prof. Vivek Sharma (University of California at San Diego (USA))

4:40 PM → 5:10 PM Coffee break

5:10 PM → 7:10 PM Session 2

5:10 PM The W mass measurement: Precision as Legacy and Promise (Ten Years of Learning with Gigi)

Speaker: Dr Elisabetta Manca (University of California at Los Angeles (USA))

5:35 PM The Scuola Normale Superiore: students, students...and more students

Speaker: Prof. Riccardo Barbieri (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (Italy)))

5:45 PM The human side of the Lagrangian: Adventures in the Gigi Field

A light-hearted and affectionate journey through memories, stories, and small adventures shared by Gigi Rolandi’s students and colleagues. Beyond equations and experiments, we’ll explore the “human side of the Lagrangian” — the humor, curiosity, and generosity that shaped generations in the Gigi Field.

Speaker: Olmo Cerri (Five Rings Capital, New York, USA)

6:10 PM A Fairytale in Reverse (Una fiaba alla rovescia)

Speaker: Valentina Foà

6:20 PM Final greetings

Speaker: Luigi Rolandi (Classe di Scienze Matematiche e Naturali)

6:30 PM Closing

Speakers: Franco Ligabue, Michael Joseph Morello

8:00 PM → 10:00 PM Social dinner