Riccardo Giovanelli

Riccardo Giovanelli, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Cornell University, passed away peacefully at
home on Wednesday December 14,2022 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. Riccardo was born in
Reggio Emilia Italy and spent much of his childhood in Argentina before returning to Italy. After
graduating with a degree in physics from the University of Bologna, he pursued his Ph.D. studies in
astronomy at Indiana University where he met his beloved wife and partner in the exploration of the
universe, Martha Haynes. In lieu of his Italian military service, he served as a civil volunteer teaching
physics at the National University of El Salvador. He was a scientific staff member of the Arecibo
Observatory in Puerto Rico for 13 years, serving as head of the radio astronomy group and observatory
director before taking up a faculty position at Cornell in 1991. While at Cornell, he spearheaded the
development of the CCAT project to construct a submillimeter telescope at 18,400 feet on Cerro
Chajnantor in the Atacama region of northern Chile, a facility now scheduled for completion in 2024. He
was passionate about his astronomical research into the nature, distribution and evolution of galaxies,
their use as probes of cosmology and the development of radio astronomy techniques and facilities. For
his discovery of the first three dimensional view of the filamentary structure of the distribution of
galaxies, he was awarded the 1989 Henry Draper Medal by the National Academy of Sciences and the
honorific title of Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He is survived by his wife Martha
Haynes of Ithaca, his mother Franca Gatti, his brother Carlo Giovanelli (Anna Fiaccavento) and his
nephew Alessio Giovanelli all of Italy and many dear members of the Haynes family. He was
predeceased by his father Enzo Giovanelli and his first wife Ilca Baroni. Riccardo treasured his many
friends and colleagues from around the world. He did not want to be mourned but rather to be celebrated
for a life well lived. Celebrations of his life will be held in Ithaca and in Italy when warmer weather
returns.
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