As a Full Professor of Applied Electronics at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the University of Palermo, Mario Sannino’s main research interests included microwave characterization and modeling in terms of noise figure and related parameters for advanced semiconductor devices, methodologies development for nonlinear analysis of oscillators, tunnel diode circuits, transmitters for MTI radar systems, automation of measurement systems, and digital instrumentation design.

Gaetano Latmiral (1909 – 1995) was, along with Giorgio Barzilai, Mario Boella, and Giuliano Toraldo di Francia, the founder of electromagnetic research in Italy. During the Second World War, he decisively contributed to the development of radar and radar countermeasures. A companion in captivity of the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he managed to escape racial persecution. After the war, he carried out studies and research activities at CERN in Geneva, at the Italian Higher Military Institute of Transmissions, at the Italian National Research Council, and at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” as a visiting professor of Physics. Finally, in 1955, he was appointed to the chair of the course “Theory and Technique of Electromagnetic Waves” (the first chair of applied electromagnetism in Italy) at the Naval University Institute of Naples (now Parthenope University).

An eminent scientist and great teacher, Carlo Giacomo Someda graduated in Electronic Engineering in 1964, subsequently obtaining a Master of Science from Stanford University. A Full Professor of Electromagnetic Fields since 1976, he was Director of the Electronics Institute at the University of Bologna, but he also conducted research and teaching activities at the University of Trieste and especially at the University of Padua. In Padua, he founded a school of optics and photonics. After initially conducting research in the fields of microwaves and circuit theory, he found in optical fiber communications the most congenial field of activity, in collaboration with Bell Laboratories in the USA. Professor Someda can be considered a pioneer in this research field at the international level. He mentored many professors who currently teach at the universities of Ancona, Bologna, Brescia, Padua, and Udine.

Roberto Sorrentino graduated in electronic engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” where he began his academic career, becoming an associate professor of “Microwave Measurements” and “Solid State Electronics” in 1982. In 1983 and 1986, he was a Research Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin (USA), where he initiated a fruitful scientific collaboration with Prof. Tatsuo Itoh. In 1986, he became a full professor at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. In 1990, he moved to the University of Perugia, where he held positions as Director of the Electronics Department, Director of the Computing Center, Dean of the School of Engineering. He was among the founders and the first president (from 1998 to 2009) of the European Microwave Association (EuMA). He was also among the founders and the first president of the Italian Society of Electromagnetism from 2002 to 2008. In 2007, he founded the company RF Microtech, specialized in the design and production of microwave components, antennas, and systems. He received numerous awards from EuMA and from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), both for scientific and service activities. He served as Vice-Chair and later as Chair of Commission D (Electronics and Photonics) of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). From 2007 until his passing in 2020, he was President of the CNR-URSI Italy Commission. In 2020, he was awarded by President Sergio Mattarella of the prestigious honour of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.