User:Pugnonicola

Nicola M. Pugno is an italian theoretical material scientist, born in 1972, with a master in Mechanical Engineering (1995), one in Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics (2004) and a PhD in Fracture Mechanics (1999). In 2005 he became Professor of Structural Mechanics at the Politecnico di Torino. In 2009 he founded the "Laboratory of Bio Inspired Nanomechanics Giuseppe Maria Pugno". He has published more than one hundred papers in leading international journals, some of them selected as top papers of the year. He his worldwide recognized for his studies on the role of defects on the strength of nanotubes and nanotube bundles, mainly the space elevator cable, as well as for his innovative proposal and design of a Spiderman suit, scaling up the spider and gecko smart adhesion abilities, also discussed in Nature and New Scientist. In 2005 he got the Leading Scientist of the World Award. He has collaborations with top level scientists. Nobel Laureate Sir H. Kroto considers him a leading scientist in the field of Nanomechanics.