Massimo Capaccioli is a full professor of astronomy at the University of Naples Federico II, a member of the Council of the National Institute of Astrophysics. He is the Director of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, the President of the Italian Astronomical Society, and the President General of the National Society for Sciences, Literature and Arts in Naples.

He is a world-famous expert in the study of galaxies, and has made a number of fundamental discoveries.