Carlos Bertulani


Carlos A. Bertulani is a Brazilian and American theoretical physicist and professor at the Department of Physics of the Texas A&M University-Commerce. He graduated, PhD, at University of Bonn and is working on nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics. He was formerly a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro from 1980-2000.

Research

Prof. Bertulani's thesis work on electromagnetic processes in relativistic heavy ion collisions is often taken as the standard reference for gamma-nucleus and gamma-gamma physics in collisions with heavy nuclei. Numerous processes related to lepton-pair production, and to meson production in Peripheral nuclear collisions were first discussed and proposed in his thesis. The excitation of multiple giant resonances in nuclei was also a prediction of his thesis work. The excitation of multiple dipole resonances were verified in experiments at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Germany. The Coulomb dissociation Method was another product of his earlier work, as a PhD student, in 1986. This method is now used in several nuclear accelerators worldwide to extract information on radiative capture processes in stars, which often cannot be measured directly.
Since 1990, Prof. Bertulani's work is focused on the physics of nuclei far from the stability line, e.g. halo nuclei. But he has contributed to pioneering theoretical articles on the subject, as far back as 1986 on the nature of the 11Li nucleus. On the subject of rare nuclear species, he has co-authored the first theoretical review in 1993 and the first textbook in 2002. Prof. Bertulani has published textbooks on nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics and edited books of international conferences that he organized. He is often involving in popularizing science, e.g. a feature article on Physics Today, March 1994.
He was a recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship in 2000-2001 and of other prestigious awards worldwide.

Teaching

Prof. Bertulani has taught over 55 courses at the undergraduate and graduate level at universities in Brazil, United States and Germany. As of 2012, he was thesis advisor of 4 PhD students, 7 MS students, and mentored numerous undergraduate students. Prof. Bertulani was chair of a PhD program for 3 years, participated and chaired in several committees on education and graduate student fellowships for the CNPq, Coordenadoria de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, National Science Foundation, and is a member of the Committee of Education for the American Physical Society.

Family

Carlos' youngest son Daniel Bertulani was a member of the United States Air Force. As a proud USAF Airman 1st Class, Daniel died in September 2012, leaving one of the biggest impacts on the Sheppard and Charleston Air Force Bases. His body rests at the Beaufort National Cemetery in South Carolina. Daniel is survived by his father, mother and brother.
Carlos' older son Henrique Bertulani is an artist and anthropologist. Henrique's paintings are present in several countries and were exhibited in prestigious galleries and art centers such as the Eisemann Center for Performing Arts.

Publications

Scientific publications

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