AJP	ISSN : 0971 – 3093 Vol 35, Nos 1 – 3, January – March, 2026

Asian
Journal of Physics

An International Peer Reviewed Research Journal

Advisory Editors : W Kiefer, FTS Yu & Maria J Yzuel
Editor-in-Chief : V K Rastogi
Co-Editor-in-Chief: Maria L Calvo

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Volume 35

Nos 1-3

January- March, 2026

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Special issue in honour & memory

of

Prof Gallieno Denardo

Guest Editors
Joseph Niemela, Maria Yzuel & Vinod Rastogi

Anita Publications
FF-43, 1st Floor, Mangal Bazar, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-110 092, India

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Content

CNN-based object classification using fringe-adjusted joint transform correlator
Jyoti Bikash Mohapatra, Naveen K Nishchal and Kehar Singh

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Appreciations

Gallieno Denardo: A pillar of ICTP and a Close Friend

Galieno Denardo was the coordinator of the optics and laser program at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) of Trieste and professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Trieste. Denardo has been with ICTP since its beginning, serving as a long-time head of the Office of External Activities. He played a fundamental role in establishing and running all ICTP activities on optics, including the schools and workshops, the laboratory, and the ICO-ICTP Award now named after him. I had the privilege to collaborate with Gallieno for many years starting from the early beginning and I remember this collaboration as one of the most pleasant and rewarding activity of my life. Collaboration was always easy and very productive and we became very close friends.

A Few Thoughts on Gallieno Denardo

When Gallieno Denardo passed away on July 23, 2007 suddenly, I felt as though I had lost a brother. At a meeting we organized at ICTP in his honor, I spoke passionately about him and recalled some of our interactions. Years have since gone by, and while that initial intensity of emotion has naturally softened, my affection and respect for him remain undiminished. I would like to take this opportunity to recall a few things about him — in particular, the role he played in my accepting the position of ICTP Director. I have written elsewhere that I was offered that position without having applied for it formally or gone through an interview. When I first learned about the offer (“It is yours if you want it,” said the chairman of the selection committee on the phone), I sought advice from many friends who knew ICTP better than I did. Their consensus was unanimous: I should accept. They felt that ICTP had been adrift for some time and needed someone with a “moral compass” to guide it.

Memories of Professor Gallieno Denardo

I first met Professor Denardo, Gallieno, when I visited ICTP during a Winter College on Optics in the early 2000s. I became Executive Director of The International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) at the end of 1999, and learned that SPIE supported this Winter College annually with $5000 and the expenses of SPIE leadership who might attend. It became clear that Gallieno was the authority within ICTP who had fostered and sustained this annual event. The ICTP’s activities in optics began in the 1970s when Alfred Kastler, 1966 Nobel Laureate in Physics, a friend of fellow Nobel Laureate, ICTP director and founder Abdus Salam, first introduced a biennial optics college there. At the time there were no other optical offerings at the center. In 1985, Professor Denardo became the organizer of the optics programs.

Remembering Prof Denardo

Talking about Prof. Gallieno Denardo is a very difficult task for me. Difficult task because I feel always very sad thinking about a great man, a great mentor who suddenly disappear one terrific day of July 2007.I met Prof Denardo for the first time in Trieste at ICTP in 1986 during the Summer school on Atomic physics. Then I wrote a paper on atomic resonance to be published in ICTP preprint. For this purpose I was told to meet Prof. Denardo for the submission process. It was the starting point for almost twenty years of my strong relationship with him.

A personal note on the founder of Optics Activities at ICTP

Prof Gallieno Denardo has played a very important role in my life and I believe this is true also for many scientists from the developing country visiting ICTP in the period when he was coordinating the ICTP office of external activities and all ICTP optics activities. In January 1991, I was one of the participants of the two optics and laser schools organized that year at ICTP by Prof Denardo, namely the Second Training College on Physics and Technology in Lasers and Optical Fibers and the Winter College on Ultrafast Phenomena. The two events gave an extraordinary opportunity to more than 50 young scientists from developing countries to be exposed to fundamentals, state of the art and trends in lasers and optics presented by well-known names in the field.

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