In Memoriam: Bruno Zumino

It is with great sadness that ICTP has learned of the death of Dirac Medallist Bruno Zumino. An eminent theoretical physicist, Zumino made important contributions to many areas of Quantum Field Theory and High Energy Physics. In particular, he was renowned for his proof of the CPT theorem (with Gerhart Luders) and contributions to the study of chiral anomalies in gauge theories with fermions with Julius Wess.

Also with Wess, he proposed the first renormalizable Lagrangian field theories to realize supersymmetry in 4-dimensional space-time. With Stanley Deser he constructed one of the first supergravity theories in four dimensions. In addition to this important early work, he was a leader in the application of modern geometrical ideas in field theory. In particular he illuminated the role of Kähler geometry in extended supergravities and, more generally, the value of differential geometric methods in the study of anomalies.

Zumino obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Rome in 1945 and went on to hold positions at the New York University, CERN and University of California, Berkeley, where he was Professor Emeritus of Physics.

Zumino was awarded the Dirac Medal in 1987 for his work on chiral anomalies and many other significant contributions to field theory (the complete citation of the award is available on the Dirac Medal page). He was also the recipient of prestigious awards including the Max Planck medal (1989) and the Enrico Fermi Prize of the Italian Physical Society (2005).