Antonio Ferri

Who was Antonio Ferri?

Antonio Ferri was an Italian scientist, prominent in the field of aerodynamics, with a specialization in hypersonic and supersonic flight.

Born in 1912 in Norcia, Italy, from 1937 he conducted research in Guidonia Montecelio, where the most prominent and advanced research on high-speed aerodynamics was taking place. In 1938, at the age of 26, he received Italy's highest prize for science, the Premio dell'Accademia d'Italia for science.Among the work he conducted there were spectacular experiments in 1939–1940 with supersonic wind tunnels.

During World War II, in the period of the Italian Social Republic, three days after the Germans occupied Rome on 10 September 1943, Ferri bluffed his way back into the research facility at Guidonia, destroyed the vital equipment and filled a fruit crate with documents of his research before escaping underground. He secluded his wife and family near his home in Fiastra, in the Marche region of the Apennine Mountains, and in October 1943, organized with his brother, Giuseppe Ferri, the Banda Fiastra band of partisans.