Miguel Angel Virasoro (1940 - 2021)

2021-07-24

With the passing of Miguel Angel Virasoro, aged 81, Papers in Physics has lost one of its valued members of the Advisory Board.  He served as Director of the  Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) from 1995 to 2002.  In 2009 he was awarded the Enrico Fermi prize, by the Italian Physical Society, for "the discovery of an infinite-dimensional algebra of primary importance for the construction of string theories", an algebra that bears his name.  In 2020 he was awarded the Dirac Medal by the ICTP.  Among his notable contributions to theoretical physics it is worth mentioning his work with Giorgio Parisi and Marc Mézard on the nature of the low temperature phase of spin glasses.  Miguel's input and guidance as a member of the Advisory Board of this journal will be thoroughly missed.

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