CISM – the International Centre for Mechanical Sciences – has learned with deep emotion of the passing of Professor Angelo Marzollo, former Vice-Secretary General of the Centre, who passed away in Venice on 26 June 2026.
Born in Venice on 10 March 1937, Angelo Marzollo was a figure of eminent standing in the Italian and international academic, scientific and institutional landscape. After graduating in Physics from the University of Padua in 1963, he began his university career at the University of Trieste, where he became Full Professor of Control and System Theory. He was later appointed to the University of Udine, where he held the chair of Operations Research and made a decisive contribution to the establishment and consolidation of the new University, serving as the first Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and the first Director of the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science.
The name of Angelo Marzollo is indissolubly linked to the history of CISM. His collaboration with the Centre began even before its foundation, when he worked alongside Luigi Sobrero in preparing the institutional, statutory and organisational steps required for the establishment of the International Centre for Mechanical Sciences. Later, as Vice-Secretary General, a position he held for many years, he accompanied the development of CISM with dedication, intelligence and foresight, assisting three Secretaries General and contributing decisively to its international outreach.
Particularly significant was his role in consolidating the cooperation between CISM and UNESCO, a partnership that made it possible for numerous scholars and young researchers from developing countries to take part in the Centre’s activities. This commitment was connected with major international projects devoted to informatics, applied mathematics and basic scientific education, including “Applied Informatics in Developing Countries”, “Applied Mathematics, and Informatics in Developing Countries” and “Education in the Basic Sciences for Informatics”. These initiatives, made possible also by his vision and organisational ability, brought participants from numerous countries to CISM and gave rise to scientific schools organised in different regions of the world.
Alongside his academic and institutional work, Angelo Marzollo had a profound international vocation. He was Professor at the Universities of Paris, Director of Research at the Laboratoire d’Automatique of the École des Mines de Paris and, subsequently, an official of UNESCO, with responsibilities in mathematics programmes and in projects addressed to developing countries. In these roles too, he was able to keep alive his bond with CISM and with Udine, promoting initiatives in advanced training and scientific cooperation.
A man of broad culture, rare intellectual energy and uncommon ability to build relationships, Angelo Marzollo knew how to combine scientific rigour, institutional vision and constant attention to the civic value of knowledge. His commitment was not confined to the university and scientific spheres: as a Venetian deeply attached to his city, he devoted passion and expertise to the safeguarding of Venice and its lagoon, bearing witness in this field too to a high sense of cultural and civic responsibility.
With the passing of Professor Angelo Marzollo, CISM loses one of the figures who contributed most profoundly to its birth, its growth and its international standing. His work remains a living part of the Centre’s history and constitutes an inheritance of great value for all those who will continue to identify with CISM’s scientific, educational and international mission.
The President, the Secretary General, the governing bodies and the entire CISM community join his family, colleagues, students and all those who knew him in mourning his passing, and preserve his memory with gratitude and respect, remembering his intelligence, culture and generosity.
