Raffaele Resta is a retired professor of physics. Previously he served in Trieste, first at SISSA (1983-1994) and then at the University of Trieste (1995-2017).

Since the beginning of professional life his main interest has been in the theory of materials, using a variety of approaches, from analytical theories and models to first–principle computations.

Since the birthdate (about 1980) of the modern computational theory of materials, his mainstream research activity has been in this area, working both at the development of new methods and at actual computations. He has made crucial advances in the understanding of macroscopic polarization, orbital magnetization, magnetoelectric couplings, flexoelectricity, and the nature of the insulating state.

He is the author of several review papers on the above topics.

He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and a former (2002-08) Divisional Associate Editor for Physical Review Letters.