Antonino Pullia was a student of Giuseppe Occhialini at the University of Milan and obtained his laurea in 1959. For the next 60 years he devoted himself to teaching, administration and the rich physics research programmes at the INFN and the universities of Milan and Milano-Bicocca, playing a major role in establishing the new physics department at the latter. He had a great passion for teaching undergraduates, continuing well into retirement.
Pullia’s research ranged over many topics including neutrino physics, proton decay, double-beta decay, DELPHI at LEP, CMS at LHC and dark-matter searches. He also played a prominent role in the discovery of neutral currents at CERN using the Gargamelle bubble chamber.
He dedicated great energy to the coordination of research and has played important institutional roles, as Director of the INFN Section of Milan and member of the INFN Executive Board, Director of the Department of Physics of the University of Milan Bicocca, and finally Director of the INFN Milan Bicocca Section.