Vittorio Canuto

Vittorio M. Canuto, born in Torino, Italy, completed classical studies at a Salesian school and earned a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Torino. Since 1968, he has been a NASA staff scientist at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, with a sabbatical year at Nordita in Copenhagen. He is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University.
In 1980, he was appointed Scientific Advisor to the Holy See at the United Nations, where he helped bring attention to space debris in 1988. He has organized symposia for the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and authored three books, including Il Paradosso Nucleare. Pope John Paul II awarded him the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1985.
Dr. Canuto’s research spans low-temperature and nuclear physics, neutron stars, pulsars, and cosmology, including collaboration with Nobel laureate P.A.M. Dirac. Since 1985, he has focused on turbulence in stars, oceans, and planetary boundary layers. He has also advised the Italian Ministry of the Environment and is part of a scientific advisory group for ENEA, Italy’s research agency.
On climate change, he has written for Encyclopedia Treccani, explaining the topic for general readers. His hobbies include opera and supporting Juventus.