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ABOUT ME
ABOUT ME
I'm an astroNOMER!
I'm an astroNOMER!
From January 2026, I have joined the European Southern Observatory in Garching (Munich) as Group Head Astronomer in the Back-end Operations Department (BOD).
I am also affiliated with the Hintze Centre for Astronomical Surveys at the Sub-Department of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford (UK) and with the Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte Naples (Italy).
EDUCATION
PhD degree cum laude at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen, The Netherlands, Thesis: “The Initial Mass Function in Early-Type Galaxies”, Advisors: L.V.E. Koopmans, S.C.Trager, October 2013
Master’s Degree in Astrophysics and Space science, Federico II University of Naples, 16/07/2009, full marks and high honors (110/110 cum laude), Thesis: “2-D kinematical mapping of early-type galaxies with integral field spectroscopy”, Prof. M. Capaccioli, Dr. G.Covone.
B.A. in Physics, Federico II University of Naples, 27/03/2007, full marks, Prof. S. Capozziello
PAST ACCADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
April 2024 - Dec 2025: Ernest Rutherford Fellow at the Sub-Department of Astrophysics, Dep. of Physics, University of Oxford & Physics tutot at Christ Church, Oxford.
Jan 2023 - April 2024: Career Development Fellow at Christ Church, Oxford
May 2020 - Jan 2023: Hintze Fellow at the Sub-Department of Astrophysics, Dep. of Physics, University of Oxford
2017-2020: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Astrofit2 Fellow at the INAF-OAC, the Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. Associate at the European Southern Observatory in Garching bei München, as member of the Archive Science Group.
2013-2016: MPA Postdoc Fellowship at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik (MPA), Garching bei München. Advisor: S. White
My biggest scientific interest is the study of the most massive galaxies in the Universe, their intriguing formation, mass assembly and cosmic evolution, especially because their role in the ΛCDM cosmological model is fundamental as they account for more than half of the total stellar mass in the Universe and are responsible for most of its chemical enrichment.
Latest news:
Latest news:
The "INvestigating Stellar Population In RElics" (INSPIRE) Project
of which I am the Principal Investigator has been awarded 154 hrs of observations with the X-Shooter@VLT! :)
Do you want to know more about the project?
Following up on the very successful INSPIRE project, we are now ready to extend the dataset to the multi-wavelenght Universe and to a broader range of cosmic time.
We started a team-effort to bridge the gap between the local and the high-z Universe and to fully characterise this very intriguing but rare population of ultra-compact massive galaxies that constitute the building blocks of today's giant Early Type Galaxies... if you are curious to know more check the link below...
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