Ilaria Caiazzo

Ilaria Caiazzo was born in Piedmont in 1989 and graduated from the Liceo Scientifico Grassi high school in Savona. She enrolled at Genoa University to study Philosophy but switched to Physics after a year. After graduating, she completed a master's degree in astrophysics in Milan and a PhD at the University of British Columbia. In her research activity, which she currently pursues as a Burke Prize Fellow at Caltech (the prestigious California Institute of Technology in Pasadena), she focuses on stars, neutrons and black holes.

In 2021, she will publish as first author on Nature the results of what is so far the most important research in which she has participated: “A highly magnetized and rapidly rotating white dwarf as small as the Moon”. It is a description of the behaviour of a white dwarf star with rare, if not unique characteristics. It is the smallest star ever discovered (ZTF J1901+1458), has a mass greater than that of the sun but is compressed into a “body” the size of the moon, despite being born from the union of two white dwarfs of lesser mass. Its study, launched by the research group to which Caiazzo belongs, is important for understanding certain types of supernova and the formation mechanisms of neutron stars. The article was picked up by the non-specialist press and brought increased acclaim to the young researcher.

In addition to her main activity as an astrophysicist, Ilaria Caiazzo also has a passion for film. She has written screenplays and produced short science fiction films. Her latest work, “The Recycling man”, has participated in various film festivals.

Story collected in collaboration with Ilaria Caiazzo.