Publications

Date of publication Jun 21, 2002 Category: Article

Leopardi and the ancient Greek mathematics

by Annalisa Reggi

"I consider Leopardi's poetry and pessimism to be the best expression of what a scientist's credo should be". This quotation is from Bertrand Russell, no less. With these very emblematic words, the greatest man of letters, the supreme icon of the Italian Parnasse, the author of such collections of poems as Canti (Poems) and Operette Morali (The Moral Essays) and philosophical thoughts as Zibaldone (Miscellany) has been associated to the world of science. This relationship, very intense and to a certain extent new, was greatly emphasised on the occasion of the poet's birth bicentenary. During the celebration in 1996, an exhibition with the name of Giacomo and Science was organized in his birthplace to underline the close connection between the poet and the scientific culture of his epoch. This point has also been stressed recently.

Volume 1Issue 022002
Date of publication Jun 21, 2002 Category: Editorial

Science, Socrates and the media

by Pietro Greco

There is no use denying it: whenever a scientist gets a piece of news in a newspaper or on television concerning his own field of research, eight times out of ten he feels irritated. The reason does not solely depend on the fact that, in his opinion, the news given to the public is often rather inaccurate or centred on secondary aspects, sometimes even distorted. There is actually something more? Something deeper that the scientist can hardly grasp.

Volume 1Issue 022002
Date of publication Jun 21, 2002 Category: Focus

Scientists to the streets. Science, politics and the public moving towards new osmoses

by Yuri Castelfranchi

What may be defined as the "standard model" of the public communication of science began to develop in the second half of the nineteenth century, gained a clear structure (especially in an Anglo-Saxon context) in the first three decades of the twentieth century and dominated until the nineties. Roughly speaking, the model tends to describe science as a compact social (and epistemic) corpus, largely separated from the rest of society by a type of semipermeable membrane. That is, information and actions can flow freely from science to the rest of society (through the application of technologies and the spread of scientific culture, for instance), but much more limitedly in the opposite direction (through science politics or the influence of sociocultural events on science itself).

Volume 1Issue 022002
Date of publication Jun 21, 2002 Category: Article

Telling time

by Ivan Pupolizio

According to Einstein's renowned declaration, for those who believe in physics or, more precisely, in its capability to offer a "scientific" representation of the world the distinction between present, past and future is just "an illusion, though obstinate". If we consider an effective analogy by Mauro Dorato, we can state that those who agree with the famous German scientist will recognize in the present, past and future a relationship very similar to that between "here" and "somewhere else" in other words, the present is just a located moment and has no privileged status.

Volume 1Issue 022002
Date of publication Jun 21, 2002 Category: Letter

The evolution of citation habits in primary science communication

by Marco Fabbrichesi , Barbara Montolli

Volume 1Issue 022002
Date of publication Jun 21, 2002 Category: Focus

Why science is hunting for an audience: the reasons of Italian researchers

by Nico Pitrelli

"We can only appeal to society, considering that governments and parties have fallen constantly short of expectations since the late eighties. The public must know that without research there is no innovation, and without innovation there is no state-of-theart. The lack of research is a handicap for the development of the country". The words of Silvio Garattini, director of Milan's Mario Negri Institute, reveal rage and passion. This is how he explained the reasons why more than one year ago 1,500 Italian scientists made an unprecedented, resolute and unmediated appeal to the general public to back research in Italy.

Volume 1Issue 022002
Date of publication Mar 21, 2002 Category: Article

Mathematicians and the perfect language: Giuseppe Peano's case

by Daniele Gouthier , Nico Pitrelli , Ivan Pupolizio

Ever since Galileo's time, scientists have been interested in how to create a perfect language capable of supporting communication at a horizontal level i.e. within the scientific community, and at a vertical level, i.e. between scientists and the public. Special attention will be spent on the mathematicians' role, especially Giuseppe Peano's. The Italian mathematician played a leading role in the creation of a perfect language, both at a horizontal and a vertical level. On the one hand, there is his successful attempt to introduce a standard logical and symbolic system of notation, which became essential for communication among mathematicians. On the other hand, there is the complete failure of his ambitious Latino sine flexione (Latin without inflection), a perfect language which died with its creator.

Volume 1Issue 012002
Date of publication Mar 21, 2002 Category: Article

Labanotation: a universal movement notation language

by Silvana Barbacci

This paper describes how a universal language for notating dance and, more generally, movement was elaborated, known as "Kinetography Laban", or rather "Labanotation". It was devised by choreographer and movement theorist Rudolf von Laban, who outlined it for the first time in 1928, in the journal Schrifttanz. His system differs from precedent notation systems in that Labanotation is rigorous and universal, as it is based not on one particular style or technique but on the general

Volume 1Issue 012002
Date of publication Mar 21, 2002 Category: Article

The theatrical communic-action of science

by Francesca E. Magni

Theatrical action can bring out the value of the exhibits of a museum, while creating a new way of experiencing the exhibitions. Theatrical actions link education and entertainment, consequently becoming a highly effective didactic instrument. The advantages of theatre are briefly outlined, considering it as an interpretative technique to communicate science from the point of view of the goals pursued by museums, of epistemology and of theatrical research.

Volume 1Issue 012002
Date of publication Mar 21, 2002 Category: Commentary

Eight points about science communication

by Domenico Parisi

This item is available only in the original language

Volume 1Issue 012002

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