Federico Ferrini Begins Tenure as Cherenkov Telescope Array Managing Director

Bologna, Italy – On 1 March 2018, Prof. Federico Ferrini became the Cherenkov Telescope Array's (CTA's) new Managing Director, succeeding Prof. Ueli Straumann who has served since 2016.

Beyond his deep experience in the field of astrophysics, Ferrini brings extensive knowledge in the management of large international scientific projects. After dedicating more than 30 years to astrophysics research and teaching at the University of Pisa, which included directing the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group, Ferrini was named Director of the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) in 2011. As director, he fostered the collaboration and technical advancement of the VIRGO interferometric antenna – one of the three largest gravitational detectors in the world. Some of his other professional positions have included Scientific Attaché at the Permanent Mission of Italy in Geneva and Chair of both the CERN Pension Fund Governing Board and Investment Committee.

"At this critical point of the CTA project, we look forward to Federico bringing his long-standing experience on the VIRGO project to build on the progress made by Ueli in the construction of what will be the world's preeminent observatory for studying the high-energy Universe," said Gabriel Chardin, Chair of the CTA Council.

During his three-year tenure, Ferrini intends to apply his leadership and enthusiasm to the CTA construction project with the goal of bringing its vast scientific potential closer to reality.

"It is an honour to be selected to help lead CTA as it prepares for construction and begins building telescopes on site," said Ferrini. "CTA is a major pillar for the future of astro-particle physics, and I look forward to collaborating with the highly-motivated people who have contributed to bringing CTA to this exciting point in its development. My predecessor, Ueli, is one of those people—he has done outstanding work forging a path to achieving CTA's ambitious objectives, and I plan to continue following that path."

More information:
CTA (www.cta-observatory.org) is a global initiative to build the world’s largest and most sensitive high-energy gamma-ray observatory with more than 100 telescopes located in the northern hemisphere (at the Roque de los Muchachos astronomical observatory on the island of La Palma, Spain) and the southern hemisphere (near the existing European Southern Observatory site at Paranal, Chile). More than 1,400 scientists and engineers from 32 countries are engaged in the scientific and technical development of CTA. The planning for the construction of the Observatory is managed by the CTAO gGmbH, which is governed by a council of Shareholders and Associate Members from Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Slovenia, Switzerland, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

CTA will serve as an open observatory to the world-wide physics and astrophysics communities. The CTA Observatory will detect high-energy radiation with unprecedented accuracy and approximately 10 times better sensitivity than current instruments, providing novel insights into the most extreme events in the Universe.

CTA is included in the 2008 roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. This project is receiving funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programs under agreement No 676134. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme ([FP7/2007-2013] [FP7/2007-2011]) under Grant Agreement 262053.

Contacts:
Megan Grunewald, CTA Communications Officer
+49-6221-516471; mgrunewald@cta-observatory.org

Provided by Cherenkov Telsecope Observatory