Luisa Torsi is a full professor of chemistry at the University of Bari Aldo Moro is also a member of the Accademia del Lincei since 2023. In addition, she was adjunct professor at Åbo Akademi University in Finland from 2017 to 2022. She received her B.S. in Physics and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Bari and was a postdoctoral fellow at Bell Laboratories of AT&T/Lucent Technologies in the United States. In 2010 she was awarded the H.E. Merck Prize, the first woman to receive this international recognition. In 2019 she was awarded the Distinguished Women Award by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry – IUPAC. In 2021 she was awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal by the Austrian Industrial Association. The award has been given in the past to such compatriots as Guglielmo Marconi, as well as numerous other Nobel laureates. In 2023 she was awarded the President of the Republic’s Prize from the Accademia dei Lincei. By ministerial appointment, she is National Representative for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions on the Program Committee for Horizon Europe. She is also Vice-President of the Scientific Council of the CNR. In 2022 she was also a member of the technical table chaired by the Minister of University and Research to elaborate the Italian Strategy for Fundamental Research. Prof. Torsi is also President of MEDISDIH S.c.ar.l., the evolution of the Mechatronics Technology District. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Leonardo Foundation – Civiltà delle Macchine established by the Founding Partner Leonardo SpA and chaired by President Luciano Violante. Last but not least, she was the only woman president of the European Material Research Society, which, with more than 4,000 members, is the largest of its kind in Europe. Torsi is the author of more than 250 papers, also published in journals such as Science and Nature Materials. Her work has garnered nearly 17,000 citations contributing to an h-index of 66 (google scholar). Research funding collected for more than 40 M €, includes several European, national and regional projects, of which Torsi is often the coordinator. Luisa Torsi is also very involved as a role model for young female scientists. In a recent Bracco Foundation campaign, she was chosen to star in a TOPOLINO story as Louise Torduck, a successful scientist from the Calisota Valley. She is married (1991) and is the mother of Alexander (1993) and Vincent (1997).
