Giuseppe Franco Bassani (October 29, 1929, Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 - September 25, 2008, Pisa

Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

) was an Italian physicist.
Franco Bassani graduated cum laude in physics from the University of Pavia

University of Pavia

The University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 1361 and is organized in 9 Faculties.-History:...

 in November 1952. After two years as a researcher at the Italian National Research Council

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

The Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche or National Research Council, is an Italian public organization set up to support scientific and technological research. Its headquarters are in Rome.-History:The institution was founded in 1923...

 in Milan (with Professors Piero Caldirola and Fausto Fumi), he moved to the United States, where until 1956 he worked with Frederick Seitz

Frederick Seitz

Frederick Seitz was an American physicist and a pioneer of solid state physics. Seitz was president of Rockefeller University, and president of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1962–1969. He was the recipient of the National Medal of Science, NASA's Distinguished Public Service...

 at the University of Illinois.