Riccardo Giacconi earned his doctorate in Physics in 1954 in Milan, Italy. In 1970 he worked at the first cosmic X-rays observatory launched in 1978 for the "Einstein" telescope mission.
He has been Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University from 1973 to 1982.
Between the 60's and the 80's he was the principal Investigator on several NASA programs.
Since 1999 he is President of Associated Universities, Inc. and is Research Professor at the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, Washington DC.
He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002 "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources".
Riccardo Giacconi