Guido Tonelli, Milan, May 2019 Adolf Frediani
Guido Tonelli, a professor of physics at the University of Pisa in Italy, is taking part in the adventure to discover the so-called Higgs boson at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN). He was in fact a spokesman for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment, one of two experiments installed with the LHC Particle Accelerator, which in 2012 discovered the last missing particle from the hunting board.
by origin (Danod, 256 pages, € 19.90), the Italian researcher tells in seven stages how life emerged from the initial emptiness in humans, passing through matter and light, stars and galaxies … to explain some of the most the delicate stages of life. In this fascinating story, Guido Tonelli uses images and metaphors borrowed from the worlds of art, mythology or religion.
Why did you want to write the history of origin as it is understood by modern science?
I talk a lot with religious people and I realized, communicating with them, but also studying history, how important it is to have stories about the origin. This knowledge of the sequence of each relationship is essential to humanity. It makes us stronger. Science offers the most complete and detailed account to explain the appearance of matter, stars, planets and life …
The universe follows the rules gradually discovered by science. But beware, scholars should not be complacent about religion. Faith and reason are two different things. Both bring important stories to men, reassuring them.
How can he assure us that we discover, as you read, jets of destructive particles, explosions of stars, black holes engulfing everything, and the colossal expansion of space …?
Yes, that’s right, some parts of the universe are horrible, chaotic, and not at all reassuring. But wherever we are, it is very calm: the black hole in the heart of our galaxy is very far away and very inactive. I find the realization that all this is possible is reassuring. I enjoy life more, having all this knowledge. But we have not yet discussed enough the ethical and philosophical implications of the new concepts brought about by modern science.
what do you mean ?
in the seventeenth In the last century, the discoveries of Galileo and Newton, as well as the empirical method, were a revolution and then affected our entire culture: we are somehow the product of these rifts. Then the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics represented another revolution. It not only allows for incredible technical advances, but also offers a change of views and new visions of the world. You can see the connections between artists and intellectuals such as Freud, Pirandello, Schoenberg, Hen.
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