Maurizio Gasperini is Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Bari, Italy. Former positions include appointments as Scientific Associate at the Theory Division of CERN (Geneva), and as Academic Staff Member at the University of California (Santa Barbara). His main research activity concerns gravitational theory, cosmology, and unified theories of fundamental interactions. He has twice won the "Awards for Essays on Gravitation" of the Gravity Research Foundation (USA), and has authored more than 230 publications, among which are various books such as "Elements of String Cosmology" (Cambrige Univ. Press, UK) and "The Universe before the Big Bang" (Springer, Berlin).