Benedetta Ciardi (born 7 October 1971) is an Italian astrophysicist. Ciardi was born in Florence. She is a staff member of the Max Planck Society at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics with a research focus on the reionization of the universe. She is the project lead at MPA for LOFAR. She is also an active member of International Astronomical Union (IAU) and affiliated with the IAU. Her research interest lies in the field of Early structure formation and feedback effects, Reionization of the IGM, Radiative transfer, Observational probes, and 21cm line from neutral hydrogen atoms. Source: Wikipedia (en)