In his last decade, Giorgini continued to work in side design projects for people he knew in the Lafayette area, and used the computer in a less artistic way. During this period, his use of computer focused greatly in creating graphics for the visualization of fluid mechanics.
Some of his most significant contribution to this field are: The development of the software and instruction of HEC-1 and HEC-2 and “Apple hydraulics,” a fluid mechanics simulator developed with a grant form the apple foundation in 1984.
For apple Hydraulics he collaborated with his PhD student, Andrea Rinaldo, one that he collaborated on several research papers and grant proposals. His last years are marked by a series of trips to Morocco, Tokyo and Italy. The reason for travel was his inclusion in two international conferences about hydraulics. Giorgini had a busy schedule juggling between his extensive research in fluid simulation, visualization, grant proposals.
In 1988, Giorgini travelled to Morrocco and Tokyo to present the latest techniques in fluid simulation and visualization. During the trip to Morrocco, few manuscripts show his familiarity with the arabic language. Giorgini grew part of his early life in the African country of Ethirea, as a war refugee during Mussolinni’s dictatorship. After Morroco, He visited his Voghera, his hometown in Italy and reconnected with family members as well as Italian researchers.
Regardless of all this endeavors, and his full devotion to teaching in the Civil Engineering department thought he didn’t have enough merits in academia to fullfil the requirements to become a full-professor. In the report found at Giorgini’s, anonymus commentaries state “too much art, need more papers.” The cold approach to a exemplary academic that contributed to the development of computer graphics simulations and computer art, raises questions to how the academic system measures knowledge using certain quantitative research landmarks such as “3 publications per year.” It is important to understand the magnitude of Giorgini’s contribution. He was an active participant in a technological development that impacted the history of computation. In a seminal period in which very few had access to computers, Giorgini devised several methods and instructions to use early computer code and printers to produce graphic information. The foundations of his visualization models were highly mathematical and sometimes statistical. In “Circular Cylinder” you can see that during his scientific visualizations he was also having fun. The program “CYLIN” shows visual cues of Giorgini’s artistic interests. Some illustrations from the CE reports became indeed, the foundations for some of his later art pieces.