From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Thu Oct 24 2002 - 02:49:12 MDT
"Seeds for the Next Renaissance" Commentary 24 October 2002
http://www.italydaily.concento.it/canali/main_italydaily.jhtml
PDF: http://www.iht.com/global.htm , click on "Italy Daily",
Page 1.
About Italy Daily: Italy Daily is the four-page insert inside of
International Herald Tribune (http://iht.com), if you buy the IHT in
Italy. These four pages are translated 'local' news from Italy's
Corriere Della Sera (http://www.corriere.it/) plus extra comments
(such as mine on this day) and other local Italian news for
English-speaking people.
Because they don't archive articles (as far as I've been able to
determine), and they change that web page irregularly (every 1-3
days), I attach it here.
(this is my first editorial for a big newspaper!)
==============
Seeds for the Next Renaissance
by Amara Graps
As a result of Riccardo Giacconi's well-deserved Nobel prize award for
his astrophysics research that led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray
sources, an unusual discussion has emerged in Italian public life of
the phenomena of Italian scientists who emigrate out of Italy to
pursue their research. As a foreign (American) astronomer in the
process of immigrating into Italy to continue my work, I don't have
enough deep background information of this phenomenon.
Currently to my unexperienced eye, the brain drain shouldn't surprise
casual observers, as government-supported scholarships are very low,
salaries to scientific researchers are barely higher than for bus
drivers, large research networks are being told they must close, so
then some Italian scientists eventually become too discouraged and
vote with their feet. The word 'discouraged' is an understatement.
Scientists generally have mild and forgiving characters and do what
they do for the love of their work, much more than for fortune and
fame. Therefore, the conditions leading to their departure was likely
extreme.
However, any situation can change, and if one adopts the stance: 'Yes,
we've done that, now how can we make it better?', I think I can offer
perspectives to consider during your reflection on the role of science
in Italian cultural life.
Italians have much to be proud in their past scientific and cultural
accomplishments. Their long cultural history displays a vast range of
experiences lending to a 'done it all' attitude and, hence, a daily
focus of living well (eternally) in the present, according to the
wisdom of what it has learned. With this as one's environment, one
might think that looking towards the future and making novel changes
could be difficult. Is change difficult for Italians? One needs only
to stand on a Roma streetside during peak traffic times, becoming
dizzy with the whirl of mosquito-scooters, to know that Italy is a
society in motion. To where does the society move? To where _can_ the
society move? What guideposts can the culture use from its past?
Italy had and currently has many scientists one can imagine as role
models, however, I can think of no better scientific and cultural
guideposts for Italy's future than Galileo Galilei, Leonardo da Vinci
and the Italian Renaissance.
Friends and colleagues have told me that Italians seem curiously
nonchalant about the scientist Galileo. In our opinion, however,
Galileo was one of the most important figures of the last one thousand
years. He introduced mathematics into physics and hastened the
separation of physical science from philosophy. Many U.S. high school
and first-year university science students perform duplicates of
Galileo's laboratory experiments. Galileo's house arrest and Pisa
Tower exploits, either exaggerated or real, are prominent in the
classroom stories. The NASA/ESA space mission to Jupiter and now
orbiting Jupiter since late-1995, was named after Galileo. For my
eight hundred planetary science colleagues at a 1999 science meeting
hosted by our kind Italian colleagues, one of the most memorable
events in our scientific careers was sitting in Universita di Padova's
"The Galileo Galilei Great Hall" and seeing Galileo's pulpit, from
where the great man lectured to his students.
Galileo Galilei was an astronomer, mathematician, physical scientist,
and budding entrepreneur who advocated experimental evidence and
individual experience over authoritarian elements. Two of my favorite
quotations by Galileo Galilei are "You cannot teach a man anything,
you can only help him to find it for himself," and "In questions of
science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning
of a single individual." As a guidepost for the future, Galileo
Galilei's achievements could remind Italians of the value of dogged
determination and scientific rigor, of listening to one's own heart
and mind, and of observing technical progress and supporting new
opportunities.
Leonardo da Vinci shared Galileo's enthusiastic love of observation,
investigation and discovery. His genius was that he excelled in an
astonishing variety of fields that are now considered artistic and
scientific specialities. For both his wide-ranging accomplishments and
the period of his achievements, the description of him as a
"Renaissance Man" uniquely suits his large stature in our history
books.
How can Leonardo and the Italian Renaissance be a guidepost to Italy's
future? The Renaissance was triggered, in part, by a revival of Greek
ideas. The Renaissance do-ers didn't want to just recreate again, what
the Greeks accomplished, instead, the creative individuals in the
Renaissance wanted to build on those ancient ideas and then take those
ideas further into new directions, permeating all aspects of society.
The conditions in Italian civilization seemed to be primed for the
first Renaissance seeds to germinate and flower, then those ideas
spread to the rest of Europe like a breath of fresh air.
In our present complex times, increasing technological advancements
swirl around us demanding more of our attention. Scientific education,
research and awareness is essential, not only to keep pace with our
fast-paced world, but also to provide a psychological comfort zone for
all people in society, showing that humans are linked with the
delightful discovery traditions from our past. We are all children at
heart, perhaps Italians even more so, eternally seeking answers to
age-old questions, and playing in the stream of time. I suggest to use
the current discussion of the role of science in Italian culture, not
as a way to lament past actions, but, instead, to embrace your past
and present accomplishments and channel your endless energy to create
seeds for the next Renaissance to germinate and flower.
Dr. Amara Lynn Graps
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Deutschland
and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma/Frascati, Italia
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