to the experimental one, a fundamental theme being the quantum treatment of phenomena such asthose observed in the study of elementary chemical processes, where the motion of nuclei enters into play: their behaviour is at the borderline of classical mechanics (semi-classical regime). On this theme (quantum mechanics in the short-wave limit) he has studied non-adiabatic processes, the role of singularities (catastrophes), the chaotic regime, and has also contributed to the historical – epistemological debate. His major theoretical effort has concerned the formulation and implementation of the treatment of the dynamics of processes involving few bodies, that encounter as a quantum mechanical principal obstacle the necessity to explicitly treat the coupling of angular momenta and spin, with electronic, rotational and orbital momenta. He has contributed in this area to the introduction of hyperspherical coordinates and harmonics, developing analytical tools and original algorithms. In the last years, he has also focused on the study of the deviations from the Arrhenius law. Academies and memberships 1985–91 – Italian Chemical Society (President, Section Umbria, 1985–1991). 1995–98 – European Physical Society (deputy-chair, Atomic and Molecular Physics Division. 2005–10 – INTAS Council of Scientists, Bruxelles. Italian Physical Society. Italian Society of Logic and Philosophy of Science. Awards and honors In 2005 he was elected to the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL and in 2009 to the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. In 2009 a special issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry is dedicated to him by the American Chemical Society. He was awarded the 2014 R.B. Bernstein Medal in Stereodynamics. Publications ; Angew. Chem. 117, 2408–12 (2005). References External links Group of Theory and Experiments on Elementary Processes 1939 births Italian chemists Academic staff of the University of Perugia Sapienza University of Rome alumni Living people