Margherita Hack, born in Florence on the 12th of June 1922, was one of Italy’s famous astrophysicists, making great strides for Italian science.
Her parents were accomplished themselves. Her father, Roberto Hack, was a Florentine bookkeeper and her mother was a graduate of the Accademia de Belle Arti de Firenze and worked as a miniaturist at the Uffizi gallery. Hack had an active childhood, taking up basketball in her teams and competing in numerous track and field events while at university. She won several national prizes in the sport, in the high and long jump events. In addition to this, she excelled in her studies and graduated with a degree in physics from the University of Florence, with an exam score of 101/110. Her University thesis was about Cepheid variables, based on her experience in the Arcetri Laboratory, under the guidance of Giorgio Abetti.Hack stood for the Italian Regional elections in 2005, obtaining 5,000 votes, but gave her seat to Bebo Storti. Additionally, she was nominated for Chamber of Deputies in several districts, but gave up these roles in order to devote herself to science.
Hack passed away on 29th June 2013 in Trieste after heart complications. Her husband died just a year later, in 2014, from Alzheimer’s disease. They are buried together in the Sant’Anna cemetery in Trieste.
Hack is a celebrated figure worldwide to this day. On her 99th birthday, Google dedicated a Doodle to her. Then, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of her birth, a statue of Hack was unveiled before the Universita Statale di Milano. It is the first statue of a female scientist in Italy to be on public ground.
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