Vittorio Gallese, born in Parma in 1959, is a neurologist and full professor of Human Physiology at Parma University. He worked as a researcher and lecturer with the University of Lausanne, Nihon University Tokyo and Berkley University. He is also a member of the European Brain and Behaviour Society, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, the Società Italiana di Fisiologia and the Società italiana di Neuropsicologia. Gallese came to international fame by discovering the mirror neurons in the 80's and 90's, together with his research team composed of Giacomo Rizzolatti, Leonardo Fogassi and Luciano Fadiga. He collaborates with many scientific magazines and his interests range from neurophysiology to cognitive neuroscience, working with neurophysical techniques and neuroimages placing a special focus on the interdisciplinary development of the understanding of intersubjectivity, social competence and the relation between recognition and perception of an action. He was awarded a number of prizes including the Grawemeyer Award 2007 for psychology and, in 2010, the Pfeffer prize for neuropsychoanalysis. His activity as a science writer includes the publication of over one hundred articles in numerous magazines.

(photo: © Festivaletteratura)