Paolo Farinella

Professor Paolo Farinella died on March 25, 2000 after suffering a heart attack and complications from heart transplant surgery that took place in February. He was 47 years old and had been in poor health since the previous July.

Farinella was a Professor of Physics at both the University of Trieste, Department of Astronomy, and the University of Pisa, Space Mechanics Group. His main field of research, and the one dearest to him, was on the Yarkovsky effect. Farinella's study of this effect represents the peak of a lifetime of research on interplanetary dynam-ics and the collisionary evolution of asteroids. His many articles and publications have received international recognition, and serve to reflect his vast scientific production.

Paolo began his 14-year association with Pugwash by attending the 1986 Pugwash Workshop, "Conventional Forces in Europe", in Castiglioncello, Italy. He attended a total of eight Pugwash conferences and workshops, the last of which was the 1992 42nd Conference: "Shaping Our Common Future: Dangers and Opportunities" in Berlin, Germany.

Paolo Farinella was a member of the Division of Planetary Science of the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union, the Scientific Council of Unione Scienziati Per Il Disarmo and the Forum on the Problems of Peace and War. He also served as Associate Editor of the international scientific journals Icarus and Meteoritics & Planetary Science. In 1987, Paolo had Asteroid (3248) Farinella named for him in honor of his research on the dynamic and collisional evo-lution of asteroids.

Paolo Farinella will be greatly missed and long remembered for, as noted by Paolo Cotta Ramusino "how much his presence has enriched all of us…"