Sergio Doplicher was born on 30 December 1940 in
Trieste and graduated in Physics at the
Sapienza University of Rome in 1963 under the supervision of
Giovanni Jona-Lasinio. From 1976 to 2011 he was
full professor of
quantum mechanics in the mathematics department of Sapienza University, retiring there in 2011 as
professor emeritus. He was known for his research based on the
Haag–Kastler axioms and for his collaboration with
Rudolf Haag. With John E. Roberts and Haag, he examined
superselection rules in the
algebraic quantum field theory, providing the first proof of the
spin–statistics theorem entirely based only on
first principles. Doplicher and Roberts also proved a reconstruction theorem for the algebra of
quantum fields and the compact group of global internal symmetries from the algebra of the observables. In other collaborations, Doplicher studied the local aspects of superselection rules. After introducing the split-property, he derived exact
current algebras and a weak form of a quantum
Noether theorem. Later in his career, Doplicher dealt with the mathematical foundations of quantum gravity in terms of the quantum structure of space-time at the
Planck scale. He also addressed the problem of measurement in
local quantum physics. He was the author of the first article of the first number of the scientific journal
Communications in Mathematical Physics. Doplicher died in
Boves on 9 September 2025, at the age of 84. == Honours and awards ==