caption work_institution birth_place awards nationality notable_students field birth_date known_for residence image article_title name alma_mater
giorgio parisi sapienza università di roma rome , italy boltzmann lagrange prize max planck medal eps hepp prize medal dirac medal enrico fermi award microsoft award italian enzo francesco fucito , zhang yi-cheng , massimo bernaschi , raffaella marinari burioni , giulia iori , romeo brunetti , federico ricci-tersenghi , , andrea cavagna , irene giardina , francesco zamponi roberto benzi , guido martinelli , physicist 04 august 1948 statistical , disordered systems , complexity mechanics , quantum field theory , spin glass rome , italy parisi giorgio.jpg giorgio parisi
 giorgio parisi sapienza università di roma
giorgio parisi

giorgio parisi -lrb- born august 4 , 1948 -rrb- is an italian theoretical physicist .
he is best known for his works concerning statistical mechanics , quantum field theory and various aspects of physics , mathematics and philosophy of science .
giorgio parisi 's research focused mainly on disordered systems , in particular on spin glass theory .
he suggested a crucial concept in spin glass theory , known as parisi functional .
kardar -- parisi -- zhang equation , describing a behavior of a one-dimensional fluctuating string , is named after parisi .
he also found many applications of spin glass theory to optimization theory , biology and immunology .
giorgio parisi has been awarded several honors ; the boltzmann medal and the dirac medal .
he is one of the two italian physicists to be member of the american national academy of sciences .
