Richard Demers was born and raised in Gardner, Massachusetts by a Canadian- American father and Italian-American mother. He has a PhD in physics and previously worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab. He currently lives in Florence and works at the Arcetri Observatory for LBT.
In addition to being one of the world's most well known centers of art, antiquity and crafts, Florence is a scientific and technological center of excellence. The Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (OAA) is the Florence branch of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF; www.inaf.it). INAF, Italy's