Lorenzo Iorio

Lorenzo Iorio (Bari, 1971) is an Italian physicist active in the field of general relativity phenomenology, and more broadly, gravitational physics in several astronomical and astrophysical scenarios.
In particular, he studied several aspects of measuring the general relativistic frame-dragging effect with artificial spacecraft, natural satellites, planets and stars orbiting different types of bodies. In this context, he performed detailed analyses of several potential sources of systematic bias which may impact the total accuracy of many performed and proposed tests of such subtle effect predicted within the framework of general relativity. Another line of research pursued by Iorio was the possible existence of the Pioneer anomaly as a genuine gravitational phenomena. Indeed, if it was really due to an external gravitational cause, also the orbital motions of the major natural bodies moving in the spatial regions in which the Pioneer anomaly was detected should be affected as well. Iorio studied also the phenomenology of various modified models of gravity like, e.g., the DGP braneworld model. He also looked at the effects that a Yukawa-type long-range modification of the usual Newton's inverse-square law of gravity may have on planetary motions.
Iorio studied the consequences that a steady accumulation of non-annihilating dark matter, especially in the form of mirror matter, may have on the planets of the Sun. Moreover, he also investigated the impact that a steady mass decrease of the Sun will have on the remote future of the Earth's orbit. Another topic covered by Iorio was the search of possible explanations of the anomalous increase of the eccentricity of the lunar orbit.
Iorio has published so far over 130 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, several invited chapters in edited books, and an edited book. In particular, he published an invited review on the phenomenology of frame-dragging in the Solar System in the peer-reviewed journal Astrophysics and Space Science. As it can be retrieved from the Astrophysics Data System, jointly managed by NASA and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the h-index of Iorio is 20, his m-quotient is 2, and his g-index is 25.
Iorio received in 2003 a prize for his scientific activity by the Italian Physical Society, and in in 2010 for two papers of him published in the journal
New Astronomy. Some papers of him obtained high rankings in the Top 25 Hottest Articles classification of New Astronomy, published by Elsevier. A talk given by Iorio at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2005 in Vienna, Austria, was included among papers which might be of interest for science writers, for public information officers and for the press media and which will be forwarded to the Press Officer The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences invited<ref name="hinda"/>
Iorio to submit appropriate candidates for the Crafoord Prize 2006, the most prestigious award in the field of geosciences. He was consulted as a referee<ref name="hinda"/> of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program by the European Space Agency, and by other international institutions<ref name="hinda"/> (Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), Czech Science Foundation (GA CR)).

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