Coppola, son of Leonardo and Elena Alestra lived his early childhood in Rome until the degree in Physics in 1960, a student of Edoardo Amaldi.
[citation needed] Mario has served as Scientific Officer at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra Agency from 1971 to 1977.
From there he moved, as an international civil servant at the CNEN, which later became the center of Enea Casaccia in Rome, where he was active until 2000, as head of European research contracts.
[citation needed] It was co-founder, Scientific Secretary and then President and then Director Emeritus of the Italian Society for Research on Radiation (SIRR).
[citation needed] He has authored about 150 publications on international and ionizing radiation on the physical and biological.