The Birth of String Theory Hardback - Tapa dura

"These writings capture the excitement of the field and the rigor of the physical and mathematical constructs needed to capture a portion of the universe... this book remains uniquely valuable to students preparing to study string theory and those who study the history and philosophy of science. Highly recommended."
J.R. Burciaga, Choice Magazine

Andrea Cappelli graduated in physics from the University of Florence in 1983 and received his PhD from the same university in 1987. He is currently Director of Research at the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Section of Florence. His field of research is quantum field theory, the main tool of theoretical physics that allows one to describe elementary particles and fundamental forces. In particular, he is interested in the exact solutions of this theory that are possible in low-dimensional systems and in presence of extended symmetries such as conformal invariance. Andrea Cappelli has also been studying applications of exact solutions: to string theory, the theory that could unify particle physics with gravity and to condensed-matter systems in one or two space dimensions that present novel non-perturbative phenomena, such as fractionally charged excitations and are interesting for technological applications. Cappelli has published 60 papers in international journals and has edited one book of conference proceedings. He has co-organized several international conferences in Italy and abroad and coordinates the national research project, 'Low-Dimensional Field Theory, Integrable Systems and Applications'. He is also editor of the Journal of High-Energy Physics (JHEP) and the Journal of Statistical Physics (JSTAT).