Alberto Carpinteri (born 23 December 1952) is an Italian engineer and physicist known for his contributions to fracture mechanics, structural engineering, and materials science.[1] His research has focused on the mechanics of solids and structures, structural integrity, and crack propagation phenomena in quasi-brittle materials. He has held senior academic and leadership positions in Italy and internationally and is currently Chang Jiang (Blue River) Chair Professor of Civil Engineering at Shantou University, China.
Education
Carpinteri earned a doctoral degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Bologna in 1976, graduating cum laude. He subsequently completed a second doctoral degree in Mathematics at the same university in 1981, also cum laude.
In 1986, he joined the Politecnico di Torino, where he was appointed Chair Professor of the Mechanics of Solids and Structures, a position he held until 2023. During his tenure at Politecnico di Torino, he served in several academic leadership roles, including Head of the Department of Structural Engineering, Director of the “A. Castigliano” Fracture Mechanics Laboratory, and Founding Director of the Doctoral School of Structural Engineering.[3]
In addition to his academic appointments, Carpinteri held leadership roles within Italy’s national research system. He served as President and previously Deputy President of the National Research Institute of Metrology (INRIM) in Turin.[4]
In 2013, INRIM was placed under temporary receivership following the resignation of a majority of its board members. In this context, Carpinteri was dismissed from his position.[5][6] The episode was associated with internal institutional disputes, including disagreement over his public support for research related to so-called piezonuclear phenomena.[1]
Carpinteri also served as Editor-in-Chief of Meccanica, an international journal of Springer Nature covering theoretical and applied mechanics, and has been a member of editorial boards of several international journals in mechanics and structural engineering.[11]
Research
Carpinteri’s research has primarily addressed fracture mechanics, structural integrity, and the mechanical behavior of materials and structures.[12] His work has contributed to the understanding of crack initiation and propagation, size-scale effects on structural brittleness and material properties, plasticity, and instability phenomena in solids, with applications to concrete, masonry, and composite materials.[13]
In later phases of his career, he also investigated anomalous energy-release phenomena in solids subjected to mechanical stress, a line of inquiry sometimes described as condensed matter nuclear science.[14][15]
He has supervised 35 doctoral dissertations and over 120 master’s theses. Many of his former students have gone on to academic or research careers in Italy and abroad. Carpinteri has authored over 450 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, 18 books [16][17], and numerous invited papers and keynote lectures.[18][19]
