Persico was born in Rome on 9 August 1900. During his university years his friendship with Enrico Fermi intensified. He graduated in 1921. In 1926 he was already teaching physics at the University of Rome, and co-authored with Fermi on the topic of wave mechanics. He then moved to Florence, where he organized lectures on wave mechanics. At the end of 1930 he was called to Turin. From Turin he maintained relationships with Fermi. He was a witness to the discovery of the slowing down of neutrons and recorded results of the readings of the counters used by Fermi in order to measure the activity induced by neutrons in particles of silver, with and without the presence of paraffin. In the autumn of the 1949 Persico, discouraged from the oppressive atmosphere of the post-war period, accepted a position in Canada, taking the place of Franco Rasetti. In the autumn of 1950 he returned to Rome, to take up the advanced Physical Chair. He continued an interest in optoelectronics, an area that had already cultivated in Canada. In the 1953 Persico directed the theoretical work that underpinned the construction of a 1.1 GeV synchrotron. He also developed the general theory of loaded particle injection in particle accelerators.
