Gabriele Veneziano, 2016 Friedel-Volterra Prize winner

After the old string theory (originating from his 1968 paper) was reinterpreted in 1984 as a quantum theory of fundamental interactions, including gravity, Veneziano was one of the very first theorists investigating the cosmological implications of that theory.
Using some novel symmetries of the string-modified Einstein equations, he proposed, in 1991, a revolutionary cosmology in which the big-bang, traditionally identified with the beginning of time, is replaced by a “big-bounce” connecting our post-bang era to a previous “pre-bang” phase: this implies a cosmology without a beginning of time.
In subsequent work with several collaborators the model was further developed and observable consequences of a pre-big bang phase were worked out.

One of the most spectacular predictions of the new scenario is the existence of a stochastic background of gravitational waves at wavelengths accessible to present, or near future, interferometers on earth and/or in space. The recent direct detection of gravitational waves from coalescing black holes makes this possible future observation even more realistic and exciting.