Gino Girolamo Fanno

Who was Gino Girolamo Fanno?

Gino Girolamo Fanno was an Italian mechanical engineer who developed the Fanno flow model.

Fanno studied in a technical institute in Venice and graduated with very high grades as a mechanical engineer. Fanno was not as lucky as his brother, who was able to get into academia. Faced with anti-Semitism, Fanno left Italy for Zurich, Switzerland, in 1900 to attend graduate school for his master's degree. In this new place he was able to pose as a Roman Catholic, even though for short time he went to live in a Jewish home, Isaak Baruch Weil's family.

As were many Jews at that time, Fanno was fluent in several languages including Italian, English, German, and French. He likely had a good knowledge of Yiddish and possibly some Hebrew. In July 1904 he received his master's diploma.

Fanno later returned to Italy to find a job in industry. Fanno turned out to be a good engineer and he later obtained a management position. He married, and like his brother, Marco, was childless. He obtained a Ph.D. from Regio Istituto Superiore d'Ingegneria di Genova. However, in February, 1939, Fanno was denounced as a Jew and lost his Ph.D.