Luca Trevisan, a Beautiful Mind

Bocconi has had the privilege of being Luca's home for six years and thanks in part to him it was possible to lay the groundwork for an extraordinary project. His scientific leadership, combined with his humanity and kindness, are bound to stay part of our community.

Luca was known worldwide for his extraordinary intelligence, his logical and mathematical genius, and his immense culture. His academic papers that have been fundamental for modern theoretical computer science and his blog with the ironic title “In Theory” are and will be a reference for many years. All this represented only a small part of his personality. For example, his kindness and respect for other people, without judgement, are no less important. In conversations with Luca there were often pauses, in which he tried to find the right topics for the person standing in front of him, whoever they were. These moments of silence were acts of pure generosity. I already knew Luca from his writings, then I finally met him in person in 2017 at a conference. I was immediately struck by his immense open-mindedness. We talked about the possibility of building an important academic center in Italy. After a year, enough time to think about it, I received a message telling me that he liked the idea.

With him, it was easy to create a completely new Department, able to attract the best minds from all over the world. Just as it was easy to design and create innovative degree programs on the methods behind modern AI and much more. If Luca had your back, everything became easier and better.

We will miss him very much, and at the same time we will always feel him reflected back in us.

As a student, I first got into theoretical computer science reading Luca’s blog and reaching out to him. Since then, Luca Trevisan has been an example, a mentor and a friend. His unique brilliance, curiosity and lightheartedness will always be an inspiration in both academics and life.

Luca was a great researcher, but in addition to this he was a generous, patient and kind person. He cared about his students and was always there when you needed a hand. I feel lucky to have met him, and I send my deepest condolences to his family and friends.

I've known Luca by name since I was a PhD student. As they say, his fame preceded him. I chose to return to Italy – and specifically to Bocconi – after several years abroad, attracted by the idea of building something with him, because for me his name has always been a guarantee of quality. When I got to Bocconi, I discovered that in addition to being THE brilliant colleague (I already knew this), Luca was first and foremost a brilliant person. Sensitive, ironic and incredibly humble and competent in every way. Before coming to Bocconi, I often heard my foreign colleagues say: ah, are you going to Bocconi? I heard there’s a new Department. That’s where Luca Trevisan is.

Since coming to Bocconi and getting to know him personally, every time my colleagues would ask me, “How are things going at Bocconi, good?” I would always answer the same way, “Of course they are. Luca Trevisan is here.”

I have known Luca for 25 years now, but we got much closer when I joined Bocconi University about 3 years ago. Luca was an immensely talented individual, with unmatched clarity of thought and top-notch sense of humor. He was not a man of many words, often taking his time before expressing himself. But when at last he did, it was well worth the wait. I learned a great deal from Luca, not just about theoretical computer science, of which he was an absolute master, but also about art, history, world politics, and even institutional wisdom. Just like many others who joined Bocconi in his footsteps, I have been a great admirer of Luca’s intellect and of his gentle personality. I will miss him very much.

Halfway through my PhD at MIT in the late 1990’s, Luca arrived as a postdoc and immediately captivated all us students with his ideas, spirit, and wisdom. He organized an exciting reading group on an area that was new to many of us, and modeled how to learn a new topic and think deeply as a scientist. It was extremely fruitful, generating many new results (including a mind-blowing landmark paper of Luca’s), and setting new directions for our research careers. But the most important outcome for me was a lifelong collaboration and friendship with Luca, giving me continual opportunities to learn from him and share his company.

Luca was not only an exceptional researcher but also a remarkable advisor. Despite his significant academic achievements, he remained incredibly humble. He had a unique perspective on problems, always offering fresh insights. He was especially patient with students, teaching me how to navigate challenges and explore new approaches. Luca’s legacy will continue to inspire and guide us.

In addition to being a great researcher to interact with, Luca was always very kind and approachable. After I arrived at Bocconi, for a while I called him "Professor Trevisan". Then one day when we were walking together, at some point I asked, "Can I call you Luca?" "Sure," he answered, "What have you been calling me?" I hope the world will one day be full of freedom, equality, peace and love as he wished.

I was always struck by his way of thinking. He seemed to have a deep conceptual understanding of our field that went far beyond what he was able to express in his writings. He proposed research directions where he already knew that something interesting was waiting to be uncovered, as if he had considered the direction for years, and he only just now decided the time was finally ripe to make things concrete. He gave me the impression that, here is a great scientist, here is someone who understands things.

He did this all in such a kind and gentle way! One of the reasons that I decided to come to Bocconi was that Luca just seemed so friendly. I thought that I would surely have a nice time in the vicinity of someone like that. Indeed, he built a really nice community here, one that is friendly and open, and we all miss him dearly.

The first time I met Luca, I had been explaining one of my recent results to other researchers, hiding some tricky technical details for simplicity. When I gave the same partial explanation to Luca, he immediately understood that something was missing and pointed it out. I realized then, that as his reputation suggested, he was thinking much faster than most of us... For the rest of my career, he will remain a role model and a source of inspiration.

Luca was born in Rome on 21 July 1971. He attended middle school with me in Rome at the Renato Fucini Institute in the Talenti district, where he lived with his parents Giuseppina Taccone and Vittorio Trevisan. I remember both of them very fondly when, as children, we would spend afternoons playing with one of the first consoles, Mattel's Intellivision. We would eat the baba treats that Luca's mother prepared, discuss whether the Intellivision console was more powerful than my Atari CX 2600, and watch "Star Trek" on TV.  The original series. After middle school, he attended a private scientific high school, Istituto Maria Rosa Molas, where he graduated with full marks, creating deep ties with other friends that he still kept in touch with, including Gianfranco, Francesco, Guido, Lidia, Marco and Laura. Over the years, this bond extended to our respective families, which gradually grew, and all our children called him "Uncle Luca" or "Luchino", my nickname for him. We spent wonderful evenings together, joking and preparing typical dishes such as carbonara, amatriciana or fried artichokes. He always teased me about this in particular, collecting numerous anecdotes over the years. He was the first person in Rome to graduate from the Faculty of Information Science at Sapienza University, where he received honors.

After completing his studies at Sapienza University, he began his experience abroad at MIT, then at Columbia, Berkeley and Stanford. He always told me about trips for academic events all over the world and how nice it was to meet so many people from often very different countries. Finally, he came to Bocconi University, where his wonderful – albeit too short – journey ended.

I met Luca many years ago, a skinny kid with a brilliant mind. He had been in class with my brother since middle school, and with two other friends they were inseparable. I remember them on the couch, with popcorn and movies, spending countless evenings laughing and joking. I would pass by, as the older sister, and would stop to listen to their chatter, their jokes. Over the years the friendship remained, the group remained solid despite the distances and professional commitments of each one. Unfortunately, I reunited with Luca again in the last phase of his life, when his illness forced him to be admitted to my hospital. I tried to be close to him, to follow him throughout the difficult treatment he had to go through. There were hard days, but despite everything he never lost his smile, the desire to joke with witty banter. His brilliant, lucid and rational mind allowed him to accept everything with composure and serenity, managing to concentrate and work until the last moments, to finish what was left unfinished.

I will always have the memory of that skinny kid, with a bright eye and a brilliant mind, who dedicated his life to study, research and his students.

There will be other times and places to celebrate the enormous scientific contribution Luca made in Computer Science and Mathematics. But anyone who, like me, shared 30 years of close friendship with him, instead mourns his immense humanity, composure, altruism and a gracious and ironic wit. We would talk to Luca about everything, but the jokes our mutual friends loved the most were related to cooking. He would always tease me about my diets, and when we went out to dinner, he would tell the waiter about my favorite drink: lemonade, light on the lemon...
Goodbye mate, thank you for everything, thank you for sharing so much of your valuable time, and thank you for your wonderful friendship.

Luca and I were classmates in primary school, often sitting next to each other in the very school where his mother Giuseppina used to teach. She adored him and dressed him like a little prince. We immediately bonded. I distinctly remember even back then his genius, his spellbinding speeches, his sense of humor and the audacity of his thinking process. I remember the science fiction essay he wrote by himself in third grade, which made him famous in the entire school district. Luca has always been brilliant as well as extremely humble and generous. A dear, faithful friend capable of understanding beyond words, space and time. We met again after a few years working overseas, proud and happy to be back in Italy. Luca had still so much to offer not only to the international scientific community but also to his friends who will continue to adore him. We will miss his nobility of soul, his sweetness and his sagacity. He was a beautiful mind, but he also had a great heart. Rest in peace, beloved friend.