Luciano Gallino (Turin, 1927) was called to Invrea by Adriano Olivetti, whom he had met in Turin in the Autumn of 1955. He served his sociological apprenticeship between 1956 and 1971, firstly as co-worker in the Office for Studies and Social Relations founded by Olivetti (the first one in Italy) and then, between 1960 and 1971, as Director of the Service for Sociologic Researches and for Studies on Organization (SRSSO). He was a consultant for Olivetti in the field of social sciences up to 1979.
At the beginning of 1964 he qualified as a university teacher in Sociology and in the following two years he was Fellow Research Scientist for the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California. From November 1965 to 1971, he was professor in the Faculty of Education and in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Turin. From 1971 to 2002, he was professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Education Sciences at the same University. Currently he is Emeritus professor of the same subject. Between 1968 and 1978, he directed the Institute of Sociology in Turin, one of the first to be created in an Italian University.
He took part at the Scientific Committee of the CSI/Piemonte as representative of the University of Turin and he was appointed Chairman from 1990 and 1993. He founded and chaired from 1987 to 1999 the Centro di Servizi Informatici e Telematici for the Literary Faculties of the University of Turin that, since the 1990s, has made internet available to many students and professors. From 1999 to 2002, he directed the Department of Education Sciences at the University of Turin, promoting the development of a specialized center in the study and in the realization of courses with the e-learning method.
From 1979 to 1988, he chaired the Italian Council for Social Sciences and, from 1987 to 1992, he chaired the Italian Association of Sociology. Since 1968, he has directed the magazine “Quaderni di Sociologia” founded by Nicola Abbagnano and Franco Ferrarotti in 1951. Between 1970 and 1975, he wrote on the newspaper “Giorno”; between 1983 and 2001 he wrote on the newspaper “La Stampa” and, since 2001, he has been writing on “La Repubblica”.
He is member of the Accademia delle Scienze in Turin, the Academia Europaea and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.