Tomaso Poggio graduated in theoretical physics from the University of Genoa in 1971. Since 1981 he has been director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, in the United States
In 1971, Tomaso Poggio, having obtained a degree in theoretical physics from the University of Genoa, moved to the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, Germany, where he conducted research on the information processing of the visual system. Since 1981 he has been director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, United States. He is a member of the American Mathematical Society and the Optical Society. In 1979 he won the medal of the Max Planck Institute and, in 1982, the Columbus Prize of the International Institute of Communications. His work focuses, in particular, on the development of a new theoretical approach to the problems of computer vision and he is considered, together with Marvin Minsky and John McCarthy, among the fathers of artificial intelligence and applied neuroscience.
“The race for intelligence”, between probabilistic choices and human creativity, this was the theme of the master’s lecture which was held yesterday in Genoa and which dealt withunion between artificial intelligence, neuroscience and biophysics.
“Biophysics is a science with unlimited boundaries, which aims to explain the complex phenomenology of living things by taking the general principles of physics and all the consequences that derive deductively from them as known starting data” **
There birth of biophysics in Genoa arises from the intuition of Antonio Borsellinotheoretical physicist at the Institute of Physics of the University of Genoa, who brings cybernetics towards artificial intelligence by studying, among other things, the mechanisms of the brain. Alessandra Gliozzi, Tomaso Poggio, Vincent Torre and Alessandro Verri they have been his students over time, together with many others.
The reading was held on the occasion of the inaugural day of the XXVII Congress of the Italian Society of Pure and Applied Biophysics, SIBPA, in Genoa until 20 June 2024. Present Alberto Diaspro***, president of the Italian Society of Pure and Applied Biophysics, SIBPA.
It’s about an event that insinuates itself into the folds of a future that unites the Italian Institute of Technology, the University of Genoa, and the Institute of Biophysics of the CNR, with hospital research.
The one with Tomaso Poggio and “The race for intelligence” is an unmissable and unrepeatable event, Genoa the perfect setting for that consolidated scientific and technological network with IIT, UNIGE, CNR and hospital research centres.
The awards to young people and to Nobel laureate Giorgio Parisi
At the SIBPA conference we will walk the red thread of biophysicsa discipline with unlimited boundaries.
There will be invited readings and contributions from young biophysicists at the Sala delle Grida where President Luigi Attanasio will welcome the Chamber of Commerce, until the delivery of the prizes awarded by SIBPA in the biophysical field:
- prize Antonio Borsellino for the best doctoral thesis,
- prize Gianfranco Menestrina for the best master’s thesis
- prize Marina Diana Mercury in recognition of scholars whose work has had a strong interdisciplinary characteristic combined with a commitment to showing the connection between scientific activities and other aspects of human activity.
This year the prizes for scientific papers (Antonio Borsellino And Gianfranco Menestrina) were won by Alessandra Gliozzi And Sara Anselmo of the University of Palermo and from Mauro Dalla Serra And Blanca Bruschi of the University of Pisa.
The prize Marina Diana Mercury will be delivered to the Sala delle Grida of the Genoa Chamber of Commerce by Seventh Terms to Giorgio ParisiNobel graduate, from the University of Rome La Sapienza, who will speak remotely.
In 2023 the 50 years of SIBPA were celebrated in the name of Antonio Borsellino while this year the 20 years since the premature death of Gianfranco Menestrina, a brilliant biophysicist with unique human and scientific gifts, are remembered.
“The race for intelligence” with Tomaso Poggio the prize Marina Diana Mercury to Giorgio Parisi for studies on complex systems are the ideal opening and closing for the SIBPA Congress in Genoa.
* Tomaso Poggio is Eugene McDermott Professor in Brain Sciences, Center for Brains, Mind, and Machines Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
** lib. M.Ageno, Proceedings of the Lincei Academy, 1967
*** Alberto Diaspro is Full Professor of Applied Physics at the Department of Physics of the University of Genoa, Academician of the Ligurian Academy of Sciences and Letters, Academician of the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts, member of the Society of Scientific Readings and Conversations of Genoa, associated with the Institute of Biophysics of the CNR, research director of Nanoscopy and Nikon Center at IIT. He has published over 500 scientific articles (H = 67). He works on optical nanoscopy and biophysics at the nanoscale. He has received the Emily M. Gray Award from the Biophysical Society and the SIF Science Communication Award. President of the Scientific Council of the Science Festival (2016-2024). AD is President of the Italian Society of Pure and Applied Biophysics, SIBPA. In 2022 he received the international Gregorio Weber Award for excellence in fluorescence studies. AD is scientific responsible for research funding within the Infrastructure project of the PNRR Next Generation EU, “SeeLife” (B53C22001810006), and in the projects related to the PNRR CN3, RNA Initiative, and Quantum Technologies. In 2024 he received the honor of Knight of the Order “of Merit of the Italian Republic”.
**** lib. M.Ageno, Proceedings of the Lincei Academy, 1967
Sunday 16 June 2024
Master reading: “The race for intelligence” by Tomaso Poggio
- Hall of the Great Council of the Doge’s Palace – h. 9pm
The reading will be held on the occasion of the inaugural day of the XXVII Congress of the Italian Society of Pure and Applied Biophysics, SIBPA, in Genoa from 16 to 20 June 2024.
Of Alberto Diaspro, UniGe full professor and SIBPA president
