Filippo Frontera

Among the most relevant results obtained, the first evidence of Quasi Periodic Oscillations from a black hole candidate,[5] discovery that was confirmed about 20 years later with the CGRO NASA satellite mission.

[6] He was also PI of two experiments on board the BeppoSAX satellite launched on 30 April 1996 from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA): the high energy telescope (15-300 keV) PDS (Phoswich Detection System)[7] and the "Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor" (GRBM),[7] with many relevant results from both of them.

Concerning the GRBM, it had a fundamental role, along with the Wide Field Cameras[8] also on board of BeppoSAX, for the discovery, occurred in 1997, of the extragalactic origin of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), a mystery about 30 years old.

Thanks to the BeppoSAX discovery of their extragalactic origin, GRBs are now recognized to be an ideal laboratory for settling several still open issues in cosmology and fundamental physics.

[18][19] In collaboration with INFN section of Ferrara and IASF-INAF[20] (now OAS-INAF[21]) of Bologna, Frontera led the development of the first Laue lens prototype[22] to focus high energy X-rays.