Tullio Regge

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Tullio Regge (born July 11, 1931 in Turin) is an Italian physicist.

In 1957, Regge discovered a mathematical property of potential scattering in the Schrodinger equation--- that the scattering amplitude can be thought of as an analytic function of the angular momentum, and that the position of the poles determine power-law growth rates of the amplitude in the purely mathematical region of large values of the cosine of the scattering angle. After many twists and turns, this observation played a crucial role in the discovery of string theory.

In the early 1960s, Regge introduced Regge calculus, a simplicial formulation of general relativity. Regge calculus was the first discrete gauge theory suitable for numerical simulation, and an early relative of lattice gauge theory. He received the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics in 1964, the Città di Como prize in 1968, the Einstein Medal in 1979, and the Cecil Powell Medal in 1987.

In 1989, Regge was elected to the European Parliament.

He was awarded the Dirac Medal in 1996.

The Regge theory, a theory of strong interaction phenomenology at high energies, is named after him.