Vittorio Loreto

I am a physicist captivated by the complexity that shapes our world, from the intricate entanglements within social systems to the individual and collective mechanisms driving creativity and innovation. Throughout my academic journey, I have explored various fields, ranging from traditional statistical physics of complex systems to diverse interdisciplinary applications. Over time, I realized my growing desire to contribute, however modestly, to addressing ongoing societal challenges. It is now widely recognized that our environments and societies are experiencing significant structural transformations that bring considerable challenges, including climate change, the breach of ecological limits, urban organization, growing inequalities between developed countries and the Global South, and the pathologies of our information ecosystem. To address these pressing issues, I am committed to finding new solutions that will allow large human societies to thrive in harmony with their ecosystems. I undertake this task through research that involves paper, data, and computational methods to uncover the principles behind complex phenomena. Additionally, I aim to create a multidisciplinary network of scientists, stakeholders, and policymakers to confront the ongoing challenges we face.

Selected Publications
C. Castellano, S. Fortunato and V. Loreto, "Statistical physics of social dynamics", Rev. Mod. Phys., 81, 591-646 (2009).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01009-0 (Citations: 4918, Google Scholar)

F. Radicchi, C. Castellano, F. Cecconi,V. Loreto and D. Parisi, "Defining and identifying communities in networks",  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (PNAS) 101, 2658-2663 (2004). 
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0400054101 (Citations: 3257, Google Scholar)

Nils Haug,Lukas Geyrhofer, Alessandro Londei, Elma Dervic, Amè´±lie Desvars-Larrive, Vittorio Loreto, Beate Pinior, Stefan Thurner and Peter Klimek, "Ranking the effectiveness of worldwide COVID-19 government interventions", Nature Human Behaviour 4, 1303-1312 (2020).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01009-0 (Citations: 1578, Google Scholar)

D. Benedetto, E. Caglioti and V. Loreto, "Language Trees and Zipping, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 048702 (2002).
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.048702 (Citations: 558, Google Scholar)

F. Tria, .V Loreto, V.D.P. Servedio, S.H. Strogatz, "The dynamics of correlated novelties", Scientific reports 4 (1), 5890 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1038/srep05890 (Citations: 243, Google Scholar)

M. Bruno, H.P. Monteiro Melo, B. Campanelli, V. Loreto, "A universal framework for inclusive 15-minute cities", Nature Cities 1 (10), 633-641 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-024-00119-4 (Citations: 7, Google Scholar)