Paolo Maffei

Paolo Maffei (2 January 1926 – 1 March 2009[1]) was an Italian astrophysicist and science writer.

He was born in Arezzo and was director of the Catania Observatory and an astronomer at Arcetri, Bologna, Asiago and Hamburg.

An internationally renowned astronomer, he was one of the pioneers of infrared astronomy research.

In 1968 he discovered through infrared analysis two galaxies, otherwise unobservable because their light emission in the visible frequencies is absorbed by the dust that fills the plane of the Milky Way.

(from "IV National Conference on Infrared Astronomy, in honour of Paolo Maffei", Perugia, December 4–7, 2001).