Massimo Pappalardo was born in Rome, Italy, in 1942. He received the Dr. Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Naples, Naples, Italy, in 1967.
He joined the Institute of Acoustics CNR in Rome, where he was Scientific Manager of the Department of Ultrasound and Acoustical Technology in 1969. He became Professor in Biomedical Electronics at the University of Calabria in 1981. He joined the University of Salerno as Professor of Electronics in 1986; presently he is at the University Roma Tre as Full Professor. He has worked in the field of ultrasonic flowmeters, ultrasonic transducers, and Lamb wave devices. He is currently mainly engaged in research on acoustical imaging for medical applications, underwater prospection, non destructive testing, and transducer modeling and he has been a consultant for several Italian industries. He has published more than 100 papers in these fields.