Bruno Pontecorvo - nuclear physicist

Defection to Soviet Union sparked unsolved mystery 

Bruno Pontecorvo hailed from a family
of talented individuals

Bruno Pontecorvo, a nuclear physicist whose defection to the Soviet Union in 1950 led to  suspicions of espionage after he had worked on research programmes in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, was born on this day in 1913 in Marina di Pisa.

One of eight children born to Massimo Pontecorvo - a Jewish textile manufacturer who owned three factories - Bruno was from a family rich in intellectual talent. One of his brothers was the film director Gillo Pontecorvo, another the geneticist Guido Pontecorvo.

After high school, he enrolled at the University of Pisa to study engineering, but after two years switched to physics in 1931. He received a doctorate to study at the University of Rome La Sapienza, where Enrico Fermi had gathered together a group of promising young scientists, whom he dubbed “the Via Panisperna boys” after the name of the street where the Institute of Physics  was then situated.

Fermi described the 18-year-old Pontecorvo as one of the brightest young men he had met and invited Pontecorvo to work with him on his experiments bombarding atomic nuclei with slow neutrons.

Everything changed, however, after Benito Mussolini’s Fascist government passed a series of race laws, one of which excluded Jews from participating in higher education.

Enrico Fermi (above) rated Pontecorvo
as one of his brightest young scientists

Pontecorvo fled to Paris to work at the laboratory of Frédéric Joliot-Curie. During this period, influenced by his cousin, Emilio Sereni, he became a supporter of the ideals of communism and married Marianne Nordblom, a Swedish woman working in Paris as a nanny.

When Paris was invaded by the Germans in 1940, he became unsettled again.  He could not return to Italy and instead travelled to the United States, where Fermi had also gone. His new wife accompanied him.

In 1943 Pontecorvo joined the Anglo-Canadian nuclear research team at Chalk River, Ontario. There he worked on the design of the world’s first nuclear reactor using heavy water as a neutron moderator.

Despite earlier being seen as “undesirable”, in 1948 he was granted British citizenship. He joined the Atomic Energy Authority research station at Harwell, Berkshire, where classified research was being conducted.

Once Mussolini had been toppled, Pontecorvo had felt comfortable to begin taking holidays in Italy but during on such trip, in 1950, instead of returning to London, he and Marianne and their three children flew to Stockholm in Sweden and then on to Helsinki in Finland, at which point they disappeared.

Pontecorvo worked in France, the United States and
the United Kingdom before his defection in 1950

Ten months earlier, one of Pontecorvo’s colleagues at Harwell, Klaus Fuchs, confessed to spying for the Soviet Union - be was blamed by the US for Russia's development of nuclear weapons - and there was speculation that Pontecorvo had followed suit.

Pontecorvo’s relatives, including his sister, Anna, who lived in London, were at a loss to explain his disappearance, insisting he had given no indication that he was planning to fly from Rome to Stockholm.

Nothing was heard of him until 1955, when Pontecorvo appeared at a press conference in Moscow to promote the peaceful use of nuclear power. He denied ever having worked on nuclear weapons research.

Nonetheless, amid speculation that he and Fuchs and others had seriously endangered the West, he was stripped of his British passport. It has never been established why he left so abruptly and there is no concrete evidence that he was ever a spy. An alternative theory is that, because of his links with Fuchs - although they were not close friends - he was under surveillance by agents from America's FBI and feared for his safety if he remained in the West.

He would remain in the Soviet Union for the rest of his life, mainly at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, outside Moscow.

Pontecorvo received numerous awards for his work in Russia, including the Lenin Prize (1963) and the Order of Lenin (1983). After his death,  the JINR founded the annual Bruno Pontecorvo Prize to honour work done in particle physics. 

In accordance with his wishes, half of Pontecorvo's ashes were buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, and another half in Dubna.

The yacht harbour at Marina di Pisa, the town where
the Pontecorvo family grew up

Travel tip:

Pisa used to be one of Italy’s major maritime powers, rivalling Genoa and Venice, until silt deposits from the Arno river gradually changed the landscape and ultimately cut the city off from the sea in the 15th century. Nowadays, almost 15km (9 miles) inland, it is a university city renowned for its art and architectural treasures, notably the Campo dei Miracoli, formerly known as Piazza del Duomo, located at the northwestern end of the city, which contains the cathedral (Duomo), baptistery and famously the tilting campanile known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Marina di Pisa is situated where the Arno now meets the sea.  A popular seaside resort with a mix of sand and pebble beaches, it is home to the modern Port of Pisa yacht harbour.

The Via Panisperna (right) looking towards the Basilica di Santa
Maria Maggiore from the junction with Via Cesare Balbo

Travel tip:

The Via Panisperna is a Roman street that runs from Largo Angelicum, close to Trajan’s Forum and the Villa Aldobrandini in the direction of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. It forms part of the Rione Monti Roma district. It follows a straight, undulating path and crosses three of Rome’s seven hills - the Quirinale, the Viminale and the Esquilino.  The street is thought to take it name from the practice of the nearby convent of the Order of the Poor Clares for distributing “pane e perna” - bread and ham - among the local poor. The Church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna can reputedly trace its history to the reign of Emperor Constantine I in the early fourth century, only 100 years after the martyrdom of St Lawrence.

More reading:

Enrico Fermi - the Roman scientist who produced the world's first nuclear reactor

The first woman to head up Europe's major nuclear research body

Why Gillo Pontecorvo's most famous film was banned in France

Also on this day:

1599: The death of influential composer Luca Marenzio

1849: Austria launches world's first 'air raid' against Venice

1914: The death of Bishop Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi


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Battle of Meloria

Naval loss that sparked decline of Pisa as trading power

An artist's visualisation of the Battle of Meloria

The decline of the Republic of Pisa as one of Italy’s major naval and commercial powers began with a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Meloria on this day in 1284.

A fleet of 72 galleys was routed by the forces of the rival Ligurian Sea port of Genoa in a confrontation fought close to the islet of Meloria, about 10km (6 miles) off the coast, near what is now Livorno.

More than 5,000 Pisan crew were killed with 10 galleys sunk and at least 25 captured before other vessels fled the scene and the Genovese claimed victory.

Pisa and Genoa had once been allies, joining forces to drive the Saracens out of Sardinia in the 11th century, but subsequently became fierce rivals for trade, particularly from the eastern Mediterranean and the Byzantine Empire.

The city’s participation in the Crusades secured valuable commercial positions for Pisan traders in Syria, and thereafter Pisa grew in strength to rival Genoa and Venice.

A scene from the battle displayed in a commemorative
plaque in Diano Castello, Liguria

However, in the 13th century, Genoa conquered numerous settlements in Crimea, establishing a colony at Caffa. The Byzantine Empire granted free trading rights to Genoa, increasing their wealth and simultaneously reducing commercial opportunities for Venice and Pisa.

Matters came to a head in the tense relationship between Pisa and Genoa in 1282 when Pisa tried to seize control of the commerce and administration a part of Corsica then held by Genoa, on the pretext of responding to a call for help after an uprising.

The Genovese retailiated by blockading Pisan commerce near the River Arno and both sides began preparing for war. Pisa recruited soldiers from Tuscany and appointed captains from its noble families. The Genovese leader Oberto Doria massively expanded his fleet, hiring between 15,000 to 17,000 rowers and seamen.

In early 1284, the Genovese fleet acted to provoke a conflict by attempting to conquer Porto Torres and Sassari in Pisan-controlled Sardinia. Pisa responded but the force they sent to engage the Genovese was defeated.

The drawing on which a lunette fresco by Giovanni David
in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio of the Palazzo Ducale, Genoa 

The Genovese fleet then blocked Porto Pisano, the city’s naval base and commercial harbour, and attacked Pisan ships travelling in the Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile a Genovese force of thirty ships led by Benedetto Zaccaria travelled to Porto Torres to support Genovese forces besieging Sassari.

Eventually the entire Genovese fleet massed near Meloria, where tactics were employed to draw the Pisan fleet out of the mouth of the River Arno, where they had assembled, and into conflict on the open sea.

This was achieved by the Genovese splitting into two lines of galleys, the first, under the command of Admiral Doria, comprising around 66 ships. The second, commanded by Admiral Zaccaria, was positioned so far behind Doria’s force that the Pisans would not be able to determine whether they were warships or merely support vessels.

The Pisan fleet, under the command of the city’s ruler - the Podestà Alberto Morosini - advanced on Doria’s ships with the intention of ramming and boarding them in accordance with the customary tactics of the time but were taken by surprise when Zaccaria’s fleet arrived and attacked them from the flanks, with the result that the Pisan force was almost annihilated.

Two years later, Genoa captured Porto Pisano, the city's access to the sea, and filled in the harbour. Pisa thus lost its role as a major Mediterranean naval power and its power in Tuscany diminished accordingly. In 1406 it was conquered in 1406 by Florence.

The Basilica of San Piero a Grado occupies the site
where Porto Pisano once stood as the port of Pisa

Travel tip:

After the Battle of Meloria, Porto Pisano, also known as Triturrita, was rebuilt as a port and sold by Genoa to Florence. But it suffered from increasing alluvial deposits, which meant that the Tuscan coastline grew steadily further away. Florence subsequently began to use Livorno as its port and after the 16th century Porto Pisano ceased entirely to be used and disappeared. The site it formerly occupied, now some 9km (4.5 miles) inland from the Marina di Pisa, is occupied by the Romanesque Basilica of San Piero a Grado and a small village of the same name.

Marina di Pisa has become a stylish holiday destination

Travel tip:

Marina di Pisa is a seaside town located 12km (7 miles) from Pisa that began to develop in the early 17th century when Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, decided to move the mouth of the Arno river in a bid to reduce the effect of silting up, which he believed caused flooding in Pisa. On the left bank, a new customs building was erected and fishermen began to build houses around this structure. The official foundation of the town was in 1872. In June 1892 a steam railway line from Pisa to the Marina was opened, contributing to its rapid growth as a tourist destination, which saw the construction of many beautiful Art Nouveau and neo-medieval villas.

More reading:

How the Battle of Solferino led to the founding of the Red Cross

Galileo Galilei - Pisa's most famous son

The kidnapping of Pope Boniface VIII

Also on this day:

1519: The birth of the singer and composer Barbara Strozzi

1994: The death of singer and songwriter Domenico Modugno

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Gino Meneghetti - career burglar

Pisa-born criminal became legend in Brazil

Brazilian police mugshots of Meneghetti in two of
the many disguises he used while on the run

Gino Amleto Meneghetti, a small-time thief in Italy who became a romanticised figure for his criminal exploits after emigrating to Brazil, was born on this day in 1878 in Pisa.

His early days were spent in a fishing village outside Pisa, but his father could find only low-paid work and moved the family to a different neighbourhood so he could take a job in a ceramics factory.

It was there that Gino fell in with a gang of boys who regularly engaged in petty crime, stealing fruit or chickens or other objects of minimal worth.  The young Meneghetti was arrested for the first time at 11 years of age.

After teenage years spent largely thieving, he made an attempt to change his life, going back to the classroom to learn to be a mechanic and a locksmith.  He found work and saved money, but then decided to move to Marseilles in France to live with an uncle, who owned a restaurant.  

It was not a wise move. Like most large commercial ports, there was a seamier side to Marseilles and Meneghetti again fell into bad company.  His next arrest was for a more serious offence - illegal possession of weapons.  Found guilty, he spent some time in prison before being deported to Italy.

To avoid compulsory military service, Meneghetti feigned madness, an act so convincing he spent the next five years in various asylums.  After eventually returning to normal society, he decided to emigrate to Brazil in 1913, knowing there were relatives in São Paulo who would put him up.

Meneghetti's hiding place in São Paulo

Briefly, Meneghetti worked as a bricklayer. He also met and married the daughter, Concetta, of the owner of a restaurant he used to frequent, but it was not long before he was tempted to put the Brazilian police to the test.  He broke into a gun store and stole many weapons, planning to sell them on the black market.

In the event, he was caught quickly, sent to trial and, in 1914, sentenced to eight years in jail, with hard labour. But far from being the end of his criminal career his subsequent escape marked the beginning of the Meneghetti legend.

Consigned to solitary confinement in a disused well, he managed to find a way out via a manhole, forced open the heavy iron cover and found himself emerging in a city street. He ran away and was able to find a hiding place far from the prison before it was noticed he had even gone.

For the next few years, he lived a life on the run, assuming many identities and disguises, moving from city to city to stay ahead of the police.  After stealing some jewellery in the city of Juiz de Fora he was caught in Rio de Janeiro but, falling back on his earlier ploy of pretending to be insane, he was confined to a hospital, from which he easily escaped.

He made his way back to São Paulo, making his home in the district of Bixiga, an Italian community, with his wife and two children. Soon a series of high-profile burglaries, always committed at the homes of wealthy individuals in the swankiest part of the city, became a big story, with the newspapers convinced they were the work of the mysterious Meneghetti.

Each robbery brought new headlines and the press began to portray Meneghetti as almost an heroic figure – “the good thief” – because he targeted only the wealthy and because he broke in to homes only when they were empty and therefore no one was ever hurt.

But the pressure on the police to capture him only intensified. Eventually, in April 1926, they pinpointed his home in Bixiga and arrived to search the premises, where a stash of jewellery and weapons was found, only for Meneghetti to give them the slip.  They arrested Concetta and put his children into care.

The stash of equipment used by Meneghetti that was
discovered by police after he was arrested 

He taunted police via a series of letters to the newspapers after they failed to find his new hiding place, in an apartment only a few minutes from the centre of São Paulo.  Eventually, they set a trap for him, luring him to an address where he was tricked into believing he would be able to see his children.

Instead, once he was inside, the police laid siege to the building in the biggest operation the city had scene.  Even so, it was only after he had spent a whole afternoon and evening jumping from rooftop to rooftop, that he was eventually caught. According to witnesses, at point he was seen on a roof, shouting to police: “I am Meneghetti, Caesar, the Nero of São Paulo.”

This time his jail sentence was 43 years.  Meneghetti was blamed for the death of a senior police commander, who failed to recover from a gunshot would suffered during the siege, although the bullet that killed him did not match any of the weapons in Meneghetti’s possession.

He was released after 19 years, yet was unrepentant, continuing to break into houses.  Extraordinarily, he had passed his 90^th birthday when, arrested again after climbing on to the roof of a house, he finally told a court he was calling it a day. Charges were dropped and he was released.

Meneghetti died in 1976, aged almost 98. His life story has been the subject of numerous books and a documentary film.

Marina di Pisa from the air

Travel tip:

As well as the city with its famous Leaning Tower, the Pisa area can also offer tourists the attraction of Marina di Pisa, a seaside town located 12km (7 miles) from Pisa that began to develop in the early 17^th century when Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, decided to move the mouth of the Arno river in a bid to reduce the effect of silting up, which he believed caused flooding in Pisa. On the left bank, a new customs building was erected and fishermen began to build houses around this structure. The official foundation of the town was in 1872. In June1892 a steam railway line from Pisa to the Marina was opened, contributing to its rapid growth as a tourist destination, which saw the opening of restaurants, hotels and beach resorts and the construction of many beautiful Art Nouveau and neo-medieval villas. Many celebrities chose to buy a house there, including Gabriele D’Annunzio, the writer, poet and journalist.

Piazza dei Cavalieri in Pisa's medieval centre

Travel tip:

Although it was the world-famous Leaning Tower that undoubtedly put Pisa on the map, the city has much more to offer. The city centre has a wealth of well-preserved Romanesque buildings, Gothic churches and Renaissance piazzas and has a lively charm enhanced by the city’s reputation as a centre of education. The University of Pisa, founded in 1343, now has elite status, rivalling Rome’s Sapienza University as the best in Italy, and a student population of around 50,000 makes for a vibrant cafe and bar scene.

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