In Their Own Words – With Theorist Alessandro Bacchetta

Alessandro Bacchetta - JLab's Nathan Isgur Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow

I was born in Grignasco, a small village of about 5,000 people in the north of Italy, the second child of four. I have an older brother and two younger sisters. Both of my parents were teachers – my father in math and sciences, he is still an active architect; and my mother taught the humanities, Latin and history. So education was always important in our family and there was always an appreciation for culture in our home. I had to choose what course I would follow in school when I was about 14, and there was no doubt for me that it would be the science curriculum. I have always been fascinated by understanding things; I've had the kind of curiosity that all children have, and – like many other scientists – that curiosity is still very much a part of me.

I enjoyed all the sciences in high school – biology, chemistry and so on. But then I met physics. It is clearer, more exact. I knew very quickly that it would be my career.

I attended the Università degli Studi di Pavia and had a wonderful time in this truly historical city. When I finished my degree there, I knew I wanted to continue to do research and was accepted at the Free University of Amsterdam where I completed my Ph.D. with my thesis on "Probing the transverse spin of quarks in deep inelastic scattering" under the supervision of Professor P.J. Mulders.

The decision to go to Amsterdam was a difficult one in some ways. Years before, I had met the girl who would become my wife, Lucia. She and I grew up in the same town. We met again at Pavia and fell in love. In order for us to complete our educations – she is in medicine – we made the decision to live apart for four years. From the point of view of our studies in science, it was a good one; from a sentimental point of view, it was very difficult.

I finished my Ph.D. in early October 2002, and we were married later that month. I received a postdoc position at Regensburg, Germany, and Lucia had just finished med school. She was able to get a job in a hospital there and to begin her specialty in general/internal medicine. It was the first time she had to follow me, and I'm lucky that she continues to follow me.

Our son, Pietro, was born there, and three years later we went to Hamburg for my work at DESY. Lucia was gracious about following me again; our second child, Maria, was born there.

When I saw the posting for this opportunity at Jefferson Lab, I thought, "This is the position for me." I feel that in the coming years Jefferson Lab will be the best place in the world to study the hadron; and I knew I had a good curriculum, suited for this position. I received the offer in July 2007, but Maria was due to give birth and I asked if I could come after the new year, instead of in the fall. It was a big decision for us. Moving around in Europe is one thing, but moving to the United States is something totally different. After a few days of thinking, we knew that this was so good we could not turn it down. Lucia had originally intended to go back to work after the baby was born, but she quit her job to come with me. I'm very grateful to her for putting her career on hold for me.

We got here in February, and one of our biggest challenges was finding a pre-K school for Pietro since he was speaking German in school and Italian at home. We were lucky to find a good place for him at the school at Hampton University and he's starting to pick up some English. I had been to the United States when I came to Colorado for a year abroad during high school, but Lucia had never been here. It's been an adjustment for her and the kids, but they've already made some friends.

We have truly become citizens of the world. I believe that human beings are not made to live in a single place all their lives. We have feet, not roots. You just have to be a little brave to make the jump.

I am really enjoying being here and being part of this scientific community. We share many scientific goals and wishes. I enjoy my colleagues and am grateful for their experience, knowledge and insight. People are aware of the work I'm doing and I hope they will appreciate it. I think we [researchers] have an important role in shaping the global culture – similar to the role scholars had in shaping European culture during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

I hope to accomplish as much as I can and use all the opportunities available to me.

As told to Judi Tull
JLab feature writer