Cocconi was born in
Como,
Kingdom of Italy in 1914. He went to study
physics at the
University of Milan, and then in February 1938, went to the
Sapienza University of Rome on the invitation of
Edoardo Amaldi. While at Cornell he also wrote, with
Philip Morrison, his most famous paper "Searching for Interstellar Communications", on the
21 cm Hydrogen line, which turned out to be of vital importance in the
SETI program. During his sabbatical of 1959–1961, Cocconi helped kick-start the
Proton Synchrotron research program at
CERN, and conducted a series of experiment on proton-proton scattering, and on the cross section of
protons and
neutrons. and particle physics related research in general. His colleagues and friends wrote the following in his CERN's obituary: Giuseppe enjoyed the respect of great physicists in the world. As a man of culture and vision, he was very curious and attentive to what was going on in the world, and not only in the field of physics. Very kind and always ready to listen, straightforward but humble in his relations with his colleagues, always ready to admire other people’s success, he was happy to share his knowledge with juniors. His refusal of association with academies, and his lack of interest in prizes and honours, as well as his wish not to talk publicly, after his retirement, of his scientific life, are well known. He was a great physicist. ==References==