Luigi Nicolais has died at the age of 83. He was Minister for Reforms and Innovations in Public Administration in the second Prodi government and President of the National Research Council from 2012 to 2016. He was also an assessor in the Campania regional council with Antonio Bassolino from 2000 to 2005 and a member of parliament from 2008 to 2012. A chemical engineer, he taught at the Federico II University of Naples.

Born in Sant'Anastasia (Naples) on February 9, 1942, Nicolais graduated in engineering from Federico II University, where he later became a full professor of polymer technologies. He also taught in the United States, at the University of Washington and the University of Connecticut. He also directed the Institute for Composite Materials Technology at the National Research Council (CNR) and was a member of the 2003 Group for scientific research, which brings together the most highly cited Italian researchers in the world.

In 2004, he founded IMAST, the technological district for polymeric materials and structural engineering, of which he became president. In 2005, he was also president of the City of Science in Naples and of ARTI (Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation of Puglia).

His political activity has also been intense since 2000, when he served as a regional councilor for universities, scientific research, and technological innovation for the Campania region, a role he held until 2005. In 2006, he joined the second Prodi government, remaining in office until 2008. That year, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies on the Democratic Party ticket, a position he resigned from in 2012. That same year, he was appointed president of the CNR.

(Unioneonline)

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