Different topics and styles and a common goal: to tell science. These are the works of the five finalists of the new edition of the Galileo Literary Prize for scientific dissemination: Benjamín Labatut with “When we stopped understanding the world” (Adelphi), Piero Martin with “The 7 measures of the world” (Edizioni Laterza), Telmo Pievani with “Serendipità. The unexpected in science “(Raffaello Cortina Editore), Francesca Buoninconti with” Listen who speaks. What animals say to each other ”(Codex Editions), Rebecca Wragg Sykes with“ Neandertal. Life, art, love and death “.
The award, now in its 16th edition, promoted by the Municipality of Padua-Department of Culture, in collaboration with the University of Padua and with the contribution of the Cassa di Risparmio di Padova and Rovigo Foundation, highlights five of the most significant in terms of scientific dissemination: from Labatut’s story of scenes that decided the birth of modern science to Martin’s journey to discover physics, from the collections of the most surprising stories of serendipity in the history of science by Pievani to Buoninconti’s story of how and what animals communicate, up to Wragg Sykes’ dive into the past with Neanderthals.
The shortlist of finalists has been selected by expert judges, but students from 10 fourth grade secondary schools and 100 university students will decide who will ultimately be the winner. The awards ceremony will then take place on October 15 in the Aula Magna of the University of Padua, in Palazzo Bo, and will be the central event of “The Science Week 2022”, a container of scientific events that will take place in various locations, in Padua, from 10 to 16 October. This year there will be a novelty: “Il Piccolo Galileo”, an award dedicated to scientific literature for girls and boys, girls and boys, a first in the Italian panorama. In the meantime, at least until the day of the award ceremony, there will be activities aimed at students. In the next two months, for example, the finalists’ books will be presented.
“This long-awaited appointment with the Galileo Prize is back, capable of bringing together the world of research and the world of students, which has made it a nationally important event for over fifteen years now”, declares the Councilor for Culture of the Municipality , Andrea Colasio. “Also in this edition the quality of the texts presented is very high, which confirms on the one hand the vitality and competence present in the world of scientific communication and on the other – he continues – the precious interest of publishers in this literary genre. It should also be noted that more and more authors look at popular scientific literature not as a minor literature, but as a fundamental factor of cultural growth. I believe that the Galileo Prize has also brought a small but important contribution to this attitude ”.
Daniela Mapelli, rector of the University of Padua, who chaired the jury, highlights the objectives of the initiative. “The very high quality of the volumes from which we selected the five finalists – she comments – testifies to how, in our country, there is an increasing attention to scientific dissemination. The goal is to tell the science to the widest possible audience. An even more important objective now, as we live a pandemic that has highlighted how science gives the only valid answers to face, and overcome, such a complex period. With Galileo, who lived and taught in this city, the scientific method was born. Therefore a festival on scientific dissemination could not have found better hospitality than the city of Padua ”.