Raúl Baragiola received his Doctor in Physics degree from Instituto Balseiro (IB) in Argentina, in 1971 where he later taught Experimental Physics, Vacuum Physics and Atomic Collisions. He was twice elected as Chairman of the Atomic Collisions Division of the Bariloche Atomic Center, where he created the Ion-solid Interactions Group in 1973 and the Surface Science Laboratory in 1979.   In 1983 his interests changed into computer and software engineering and he created and directed the Microcomputer Development Program of the Argentine Atomic Energy Commission, which developed the Mara microcomputer.   In 1985 he started ALTEC, a computer manufacturing and software company, where he acted as C.E.O. until 1987.  In 1986-1987 he was Vice-president of R&D and member of the Board of Directors of Itron, then owned by ALTEC.   In 1988 he returned to physics moving to the U.S. as a visiting scientist in the Laboratory for Surface Modification at Rutgers University.  In 1990 he joined the faculty of the University of Virginia as a professor and Director of the Ion Beam Laboratory (later renamed to Laboratory for Atomic and Surface Physics.)  In 1993 he established the Surface Science Center, and in 1994-95 he was the Presidential Fellow at the University of Virginia and became Alice and Guy Wilson Professor.  He has held visiting positions at the Universities of Western Ontario (Canada), Salford (England), Madrid (Spain), Paris (France), at the Institutes Balseiro and INTEC (Argentina) and the Hahn-Meitner Institute (Germany).

    He received several awards and prizes, including the NASA Achievement Award for development of Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, 1998, the Iberdrola Visiting Professor Chair at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain (1997), election as Chairman of the Gordon Research Conference on Particle-Solid Interactions, the Interamerican Prize in Exact Sciences from the Organization of American States (1983), the Argentina National Physics Prize "Coca-Cola in Arts and Sciences" (1982), the Argentina National Physics Prize (1979), declared an Outstanding Youth of 1979 by the Junior Chamber of Buenos Aires.

   Dr. Baragiola is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Fellow and Chartered Physicist of the Institute of Physics (London), and an Honorary Member of the Bömische Physical Society. He has authored about 200 refereed papers, two inventions, and edited a book.  He has given dozens of invited talks at international conferences, universities and laboratories around the world, and organized international scientific meetings in the U.S. and Europe.

Recent publications

Library interview

Courses taught:

Graduate: Atomic Collisions Physics, Atomic Collisions in Solids, Electron Spectroscopy of Solids, Surface Physics,  Surface Analysis, Desorption Induced by Electronic Transitions,  Surface Science, Ion- and Laser-Interactions with Solids

Recent collaborations

• Giuseppe Baratta, Elisabetta Palumbo and Gianni Strazzulla, Catania Astrophysical Observatory, Italy: radiation synthesis of CO2 in interstellar grains.
• Vladimir Esaulov, Université Paris-Sud:  autoionization in ion-surface collisions.
• Julio Ferrón and Ricardo Vidal, INTEC, Argentina: Monte-Carlo simulations of low energy electrons in solids, use of Factor Analysis in electron spectroscopy.
• Oscar Grizzi and Esteban Sánchez, CAB-CNEA, Argentina: on glancing ion-surface collisions.
• Manabu Ishimoto, Fujitsu Laboratories: plasma display panels.
• Mario Jakas, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain: ozone synthesis.
• Carmina Monreal, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain: ion-solid interactions.
• Antonino Oliva, Universitá di Calabria, Italy: inelastic ion-surface collisions.
• Nicolaus. Stolterfoht and Max Rösler, Hahn Meitner Institute, Germany: interactions of highly charged ions with surfaces