“Wretched is the land that needs heroes”: what is perhaps the most famous quote from Brecht’s “Life of Galileo” can be used to illustrate the significance of this revolution for modern thought. After Galileo, science no longer needs heroes, venerated and indisputable custodians of knowledge. Thanks to the “method” it becomes everyone’s, the principle of authority falls and the strength of facts and experiments prevails. Knowledge of the world is no longer the prerogative of a few, but, also thanks to a shared language, available to all those who want to engage in research and accept a comparison without borders.
Piero Martin, full professor of experimental physics at the University of Padua, is an expert in thermonuclear fusion. Fellow of the American Physical Society, he is Chief Physicist of DTT, the new large European experiment under construction in Frascati. He was the scientific director of large international research projects. Active in dissemination, he writes for “La Stampa” and “lavoce.info”, was a finalist for the 2022 Galileo Prize and is translated into numerous languages.
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The event is part of “History Lessons”, an unprecedented program of five meetings on the theme “The strength of ideas”, which put ideas, their strength and the protagonists who embodied them at the centre, offering the public new points of vision and new tools to face a very complex present and a future that promises to be increasingly uncertain.The cycle of History Lessons is conceived by Laterza Editors and created in co-production with the Donizetti Theater Foundation of Bergamo.