Letture Periodiche

On Friday, December 13 at 4:30 p.m., the “Cesare Pecile” Chemistry Library will host the second meeting of the Letture Periodiche series, during which Professor Piero Martin will present his latest book, “Storie di errori memorabili” with the participation of Professor Mauro Sambi.

Piero Martin is Full Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Padua and has been scientifically responsible for important research projects in the field of thermonuclear fusion. He is currently coordinator of the Italian DTT experimental fusion project and has been selected by the prestigious Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei as seconded professor at the Accademia's Beniamino Segre Interdisciplinary Centre for the three-year period 2023/24 -2025/26. His research project at the Academy, entitled ‘Controlled thermonuclear fusion: science, scenarios and ethics’, has important implications for the crucial issues of clean energy and the Earth's ecological future.
The author of countless publications in international scientific journals, he combines his academic activities with an important commitment to popularising science. Among others, Piero Martin has published L'era dell'atomo (with A. Viola, 2014), Zerologia (with C. Bartocci and A. Tagliapietra, 2016) and Trash. Everything you should know about waste (with A. Viola, finalist at the Galileo Prize 2018 and winner of the National Prize for Popular Science, Science section). More recent publications include The 7 Measures of the World (2021, translated into eight languages and finalist for the Galileo Prize 2022).

His latest book, Storie di errori memorabili, published in 2024, focuses on the theme of error as a fundamental and inescapable structure of human life, which allows man not only to learn important lessons but also the actual advancement of scientific knowledge. The author of the book guides us through interesting examples of errors in the history of science that were necessary conditions for discoveries and that were also committed by great scientists such as Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein. In this way, it is possible to rediscover fundamental passages of modern science from a different perspective, which simultaneously succeeds in rehabilitating and restoring dignity to error. In the words of the author himself, the book aims to be: "“un elogio dell’errore come momento di libertà e di crescita. In ogni caso non possiamo eliminarlo, e quindi impariamo a farne buon uso”.

Reservations are required to take part in the event, which has free admission. Places are limited.

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