The climate, energy resources, war. The Nobel prize, who will receive the Sigillum Magnum in Bologna and an honorary degree in Tor Vergata, reflects on how progress and research can (and must) have repercussions on our lives and on the major issues affecting the planet
Science is a huge puzzle and each piece that is put in the right place opens up the possibility of placing others. In this gigantic mosaic, each scientist adds pieces, with the knowledge that he has given his contribution and that, when his name is forgotten, even those who come later will climb on his shoulders to see beyond. The more we explore the universe, the more we discover new regions to explore, and each discovery allows us to ask many new questions that we were not able to ask before.
Scientists enjoy trying to make progress in this huge puzzle. My teacher Nicola Cabibbo often said, when discussing what to do: Why should we study this problem if we don’t enjoy ourselves?. Often among scientists there is almost a wonder that they get paid to do the thing they most want to do.
But over the years, the science becomes ever more useful to society (economic development is based on scientific progress), and also increasingly expensive: it requires increasingly complex structures and organisation. The Second World War marks the first stirrings of mass science (big science): Vannevar Bush coordinated the war efforts of six thousand American scientists and at the same time fifty thousand people worked on the construction of the first atomic bombs.
At present the practical consequences of science are extremely important. Many of the world’s problems could be solved using the tools that science places at our disposal. To deal adequately with climate change, not only do we need decisive interventions to stop the emission of greenhouse gases, but we also need scientific investments: we need to be able to develop new technologies to conserve energy by transforming it into fuels, non-polluting technologies based on renewable resources: not only must we save ourselves from the greenhouse effect, but we must avoid falling into the terrible trap of depletion of natural resources.
Also energy saving a chapter to be tackled decisively: for example, as long as the internal temperature of our homes remains almost constant between summer and winter, it will be difficult to stop emissions.
Successfully halting climate change requires a monstrous effort on everyone’s part: it is an operation with a colossal cost, not only financial but also social, with changes that affect our lives. Politics must guarantee that these costs are accepted by all: those who have used the most resources must contribute the most, in order to affect the majority of the population as little as possible; costs must be distributed fairly and equitably among all countries: decency requires that the countries currently impacting on the planet’s resources make the greatest efforts.
They are huge the challenges posed by climate change, starting from the need to build an economy based on renewable sources. They are global challenges that can only be faced with the contribution and solidarity of all nations. But it is not easy to reconcile rich and poor who have such different interests in everyday life. Inequalities are perhaps the most serious obstacle to solving these problems which must be faced in a fair and supportive perspective.
hard to do this in a world threatened by the nightmare of wars. To build weapons of mass destruction, humanity uses endless resources that could be used for much more useful programs.
We have faced a huge tragedy this year, not only the military killed, but also a large number of civilians. We have witnessed an incredibly high number of refugees, 10 million in Ukraine, out of a total of 100 million worldwide. This tragedy must end now, but we also have to think long-term. And now that the Cold War times are returning, we should ask ourselves a fundamental question. Why are we alive? Why didn’t we die in the Third War that could have been unleashed?
Much of the credit comes from the awareness that an uncontrolled escalation had to be avoided and that it was essential that the armies of the Warsaw Pact and NATO not clash militarily. We were in a situation of mutual assured destruction (Mad, mutual assured destruction) in the case of atomic warfare. We are still in the same situation, the approximately two thousand NATO strategic warheads and the 1,600 Russian warheads are capable of completely devastating the northern hemisphere. It was and remains essential to defuse conflicts before direct armed confrontation between the respective armies occurs.
Science has had a direct role in building peace. Scientist diplomacy played a very important role. The first example of this type of diplomacy was the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. This organization has played a useful role in opening channels of communication in a period of otherwise limited official and unofficial relations the basis for so many agreements including the first Atmospheric Test Ban Treaty (1963) and the Treaty on proliferation (1968). Pugwash has been credited with being a pioneering and innovative transnational organization as well as an example of the effectiveness of so-called unconventional diplomacy.
You absolutely have to prevent some state from using the atomic bomb first. While China and India have formally declared their no-first-use-nuclear-weapon policy (No first use), France, England, Russia and the United States have repeatedly declared that they reserve the right to be the first to use the atomic bomb even if not attacked with nuclear weapons. these days the news of an appeal, promoted by Science4Peace and signed among others by a good dozen Nobel prize winners, myself included, asking to reconsider this position. The document begins with calls for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and humanitarian aid for those who are suffering from the war and ends with a call to governments possessing nuclear weapons and their allies to publicly and urgently declare their compliance to the policy of no first use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, and to desist from all use of such weapons and to accede to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons launched by the United Nations.
These requests may seem to run counter to the current political phase. However, now is the time to prepare for peace. I do not think it is a coincidence that the season of treaties began in 1963, immediately after the Cuban missile crisis. It was a very dangerous crisis: a commander of a Soviet submarine even decided to launch atomic missiles, but to do this he needed the consent of the deputy commanders, which fortunately was not there. The crisis was dangerous precisely because it could not be resolved without anyone losing face if discussions were limited only to Cuba’s future. Fortunately there was a global negotiation which led to the withdrawal of many missiles installed in various countries including Italy. The narrow escape was the spring that triggered a change in political relations.
Even now, it seems hard to find an acceptable peace deal on both sides if we limit ourselves only to the Ukrainian situation, however it could be possible to find it by broadening the discourse and opening a global negotiation between Russia and the West on the many points of conflict including the reduction of nuclear weapons and the construction of nuclear-free zones. I sincerely hope that Putin and Biden finally have some of the wisdom shown by their predecessors of sixty years ago, Kennedy and Khrushchev.
Double honor in Bologna and Rome
The Sigillum Magnum is the highest honor granted by the University of Bologna and will be presented today to Giorgio Parisi, Nobel Prize for Physics 2021. The ceremony is scheduled for 5 pm in the Aula Magna of Santa Lucia (via Castiglione, 36). After the greetings of the rector Giovanni Molari, Pierluigi Contucci, professor of mathematical physics, will introduce Parisi who will give the lectio magistralis on science and peace that we anticipate on this page. The event will also be streamed live on YouTube. Tomorrow, however, the Nobel will receive the homage of another university, that of Rome Tor Vergata, where he taught from 1981 to 1992. At 11 in the Great Hall of the Faculty of Economics (via Columbia, 2), Parisi will receive an honorary degree in materials science and technology. After the words of the dean Roberto Longo, pro tempore rector, and of the professors Pasquale Mazzotta, Roberto Benzi and Claudio Goletti, the lectio of Parisi who at the end of the ceremony will answer the questions of 300 high school students from Rome and Lazio. Di Parisi just released in the bookstore Steps that never end. Daily life of a Nobel Prize winner written with Giorgio Paterlini (La nave di Teseo, pp. 304, euro 20), an autobiography that recounts the private life and professional career of the great scientist.
November 28, 2022 (change November 28, 2022 | 11:45 am)
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