In 1983, J.G. Russo received a fellowship to study physics at the Instituto Balseiro in Bariloche, Argentina, where he earned his degree in Physics in December 1986. He was subsequently awarded a fellowship at SISSA in Trieste, Italy, completing his PhD in October 1990 under the supervision of Daniele Amati, with a focus on quantum gravity and string theory. As a researcher at Stanford University, he collaborated with Lenny Susskind on black hole physics. He then continued his investigations at the University of Texas at Austin and later at CERN. In April 2003 he joined ICREA as a Research Professor. He has collaborated with leading figures in theoretical physics, including J. Maldacena, M. Green, A. Tseytlin, and P. Townsend. His notable contributions include the holographic theory for non‑commutative gauge theories, solvable black hole models, string dualities, new integrable structures in superstring theory and, recently, a new formulation of non‑linear electrodynamics.

A major challenge of theoretical physics is unveiling the fundamental laws that govern the universe. The microscopic world, governed by quantum mechanics, is fuzzy, uncertain and involves three forces among elementary particles: electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear. The gravitational force, described by Einstein general relativity, is instead observed at large scales. But this theory is incompatible with quantum mechanics. Superstring theory is presently the best candidate to reconcile gravity with quantum mechanics and thus to provide a unifying framework for the four forces of nature.

My research interests include Superstring theory, Gravitation, Cosmology and Particle Physics.