Umberto Colombo (scientist)

Umberto Colombo (1927 – 13 May 2006) was a Jewish-Italian chemical engineer, academic and the minister of universities, science and technology of Italy.

Colombo was born in 1927. He held a PhD in physical chemistry, which he received from the University of Pavia. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.

Colombo was a chemical engineer. He was working as a professor at the University of Milan in the 1970s. He served as the president of the Italian energy firm ENI for a short period from November 1982 to January 1983. Then he was appointed as the head of the Italian nuclear energy unit.

He served as the minister of universities, science and technology in the Ciampi cabinet from 1993 to 1994. Then he became a member of the Italian national council of economy and labour. He was also the chairman of LEAD-Europe. He was one of the shareholders of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. Then he became a member of its board of directors in July 1995 and retired in November 2004. Other posts he assumed included the chairman of ENEA (Italian national agency for new technology, energy and the environment; 1983-1993), president of the European science foundation (1991-1993), chairman of the Italian hydrocarbons trust, director general of Montedision's R&D and strategic planning, director of Montecatini's G. Donegani research centre, governor of the international development research centre (IDRC; 1985-1990) in Canada, chairman of the United Nations's advisory committee on science and technology for development (1984-1986) and president of the European institute research management association. He was also a member of the Club of Rome's executive committee that had been founded by Aurelio Peccei.

Works

Colombo and another Italian scientist Francesco Scaramuzzi carried out an experiment on nuclear fusion in April 1989. They reported that their experiment was successful in creating nuclear fusion at room temperature with a novice technique.

Awards

Colombo was the recipient of the Honda Foundation's award for ecotechnology in 1984. He was also awarded China's state international scientific and technological cooperation award in 1999.

Colombo died in Rome on 13 May 2006. He was 78.