Mario Salvadori
| Mario G. Salvadori | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
March 19, 1907 Rome, Italy |
| Died | June 25, 1997 (aged 90) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Education | University of Rome (doctorates in civil engineering, mathematics) |
| Spouse(s) | Giuseppina Tagliacozzo, Carol Salvadori |
| Children | Vieri Salvadori (son) Michael Kazin (stepson) |
| Parent(s) | Riccardo Salvadori, Ermelinda Alatri |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline |
Civil engineering Structural engineering Forensic engineering |
| Institutions |
Columbia University Salvadori Center |
| Awards |
Hoover Medal (1993) Founders Award (1997, National Academy of Engineering) |
Mario G. Salvadori (March 19, 1907 – June 25, 1997) was a structural engineer and professor of both civil engineering and architecture at Columbia University.
Salvadori was born in Rome, Italy in 1907. His father, Riccardo, an engineer who worked for the telephone company, became the chief engineer of the city of Genoa when the phone company merged with their French counterpart. Salvadori's father later became the head of the gas and electric company in Spain. His mother, Ermelinda Alatri, belonged to a rich Jewish family. Following his father's activities, Salvadori spent many years of his youth in Madrid and only returned to Italy in 1923. Two years later, when he was 18, he started what the first student jazz band in Italy; one of his youthful dreams was to become a concert conductor, although his parents did not encourage this. He was also a skillful mountain climber; he found several new climbing routes on Dolomites.
He earned doctoral degrees in both civil engineering and mathematics from the University of Rome in 1930 and 1933, respectively. Then he served as an instructor at Engineering department of the University of Rome and as consultant for Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo (INAC), directed by Mauro Picone, his mathematics teacher. Thanks to a grant, he went to London and in the next two years he did graduate research in photoelasticity at University College London, where he was in contact with Jews escaping from Nazi persecutions. Subsequently, when he returned to Rome, Salvadori was a convinced critic of the regime of Benito Mussolini, and was aware of the risks for his mother's family. In 1939, when Mussolini promulgated the Italian Racial Laws, Salvadori left Italy with his wife, who was also Jewish. At the same time he tried, with poor results, to convince his relatives to follow his example.
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