| Claudio Maccone | |
| Birth Date: | 6 February 1948 |
| Birth Place: | Torino, Italy |
| Nationality: | Italian |
| Occupation: | SETI astronomer, space scientist and mathematician |
| Notable Works: | The Sun as a Gravitational Lens |
| Education: | King's College London |
| Awards: | Giordano Bruno Award |
Claudio Maccone (born 6 February 1948, in Torino (Turin), Italy)[1] is an Italian SETI astronomer, space scientist and mathematician.[2]
He obtained two degrees from the University of Turin: in physics in 1972 and in mathematics in 1974.He obtained his PhD at the Department of mathematics of King's College London, England in September 1980.[1]
In 1985 he briefly held a position as "Professore di ruolo" in Mathematics at "Liceo Scientifico Albert Einstein" in Turin.
He then joined the Space Systems Group of Aeritalia (later called Alenia Spazio S.p.A. and now Thales Alenia Space Italia S.p.A.) in Turin on September 19,1985, and immediately got involved in the design of new space missions.[1]
In 2002 he was awarded the "Giordano Bruno Award" by the SETI League, "for his efforts to establish a radio observatory on the far side of the Moon."[2]
After his early retirement from Alenia Spazio S.p.A. on December 30, 2004, he taught at Politecnico di Torino for five years (2005-2009) at Post-Doctoral level. He was Advisor to Ph.D. candidates in the Aerospace and Electronics Departments of Politecnico di Torino.
Since 2010 he is the Director for Scientific Space Exploration of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA, based in Paris, France).[3]
From 2012 to 2021 he served as Chair of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee.[4]
He has published 149 scientific and technical papers.
His first technical book was Telecommunications, KLT and Relativity in 1994, link.
In 1998 his second book was The Sun as a Gravitational Lens: Proposed Space Missions (proposing FOCAL space telescope), IAA Book Award 1999. Both books were published by IPI Press, at Colorado Springs, CO, USA: website.[1]
Maccone's third book Deep Space Flight and Communications – Exploiting the Sun as a Gravitational Lens was published by Praxis-Springer in 2009.[1] [5] This revolutionary book was translated into Chinese by 2014 and awarded the IAA Book Award in 2018. Website.
In September 2012, his fourth book, Mathematical SETI - Statistics, Signal Processing, Space Missions was published, website.[6]
Maccone's fifth highly mathematical book, Evo-SETI – Life Evolution Statistics on Earth and Exoplanets, was published in February 2021, website. This is Mathematical Astrobiology, IAA Book Award 2022.
Maccone's sixth book is The Living Galaxy, co-authored with Eugenio Mieli and Andrea M. F. Valli. It is currently in print in both the English and Italian version, and should be published in September 2024.