Alessio Zaccone

In January 2022 he proposed an approximate solution for the random close packing problem in 2D and 3D, which received multiple comments online.

He is also known for having developed, in his PhD thesis, the extension of DLVO theory that describes the stability of colloidal systems in fluid dynamic conditions based on a new solution (developed using the method of matched asymptotic expansions) to the Smoluchowski convection-diffusion equation. The predictions of the theory have been extensively verified experimentally by various research groups. Also in his PhD thesis, he developed a formula for the shear modulus of colloidal nanomaterials, which has been confirmed experimentally in great detail. In 2020 he discovered and mathematically predicted that the low-frequency shear modulus of confined liquids scales with inverse cubic power of the confinement size.

As of August 2020, he has published well over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, h-index=30.

In 2017 he was listed as one of the 37 most influential researchers worldwide (with less than 10–12 years of independent career) by the journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research published by the American Chemical Society. In 2020 he was listed among the Emerging Leaders by the Journal of Physics published by the Institute of Physics.

After a PhD at ETH Zurich, he held faculty positions at Technical University Munich, University of Cambridge and at the Physics Department of the University of Milan. In 2015 he was elected a Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge.

Alessio Zaccone (born 7 September 1981, Alessandria) is an Italian physicist.