The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded half this morning to Giorgio Parisi, an Italian physicist who studied chaos and complex systems, and for the other half to the American scientist of Japanese origins Thank you Manabe, 90 years old, together with the German Klaus Hasselmann, 89 years old. Parisi, 73, from Rome, was awarded for “the discovery of the interaction between disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from the atomic level to the planetary scale”. His two colleagues, climatologists, instead won for “the physical modeling of the Earth’s climate, which quantifies its variability and reliably predicts global warming”.
“Indeed, this day is a good example” he tells the Accademia dei Lincei, of which he is vice-president and that, in the early afternoon, he snatched it from his family to celebrate it. He runs like a young man between a compliment and a question, from time to time he opens up in one of the brightest smiles known to the category of scientists. No celebration had been prepared, although the feeling that the prize was on the way was there. “Absolutely, we have not anticipated anything” tell his colleagues at the Academy. “Not even a photo or a ten-line biography”.
One of Parisi’s first thoughts is for his mentor Nicola Cabibbo, the “missed Nobel” with which he graduated in 1970. “They should have given him the prize, not me. He was a great physicist and he instilled knowledge and enthusiasm in a generation of Italian physicists, myself included.”
But what did Parisi actually discover? “I dealt with chaos” explains the scientist. There is nothing more fascinating than finding an order within it. From particles to neural systems, to the components that form a piece of glass, there are systems whose rules are all to be discovered and my job is to try to do that. There are still many things that I would like to discover “.
Italy therefore still seems to be a country suitable for science. “I have been happy with it and have always stayed there. It is true that in science there is no longer so much trust nowadays. We think it has stopped helping us create a better future. But whoever thinks we would be wrong is wrong. better without her. What we need is more science, not less science. ” And it could also help us in tackling climate change. “Science has the task of helping us predict the future,” says Parisi. “In this case it warns us that something serious could happen if we don’t act as soon as possible to stop it.”
In his career, Parisi has studied very different topics, united by being able to be called complex systems: from the Higgs boson to the interactions between neurons in the brain, which led him to deal with neural networks and artificial intelligence, up to the behavior of individual birds. inside of the turning flocks. Today he researches the structure of heterogeneous materials such as glass. The study of climate is also considered part of complex systems. For this the Italian physicist was awarded alongside two fellow climatologists.
Nobel Prize in Physics to Giorgio Parisi “There were chances, so I kept the phone close”
Born in Rome, Parisi taught theoretical physics at the Wisdom, where he graduated, was president of theNational Academy of the Lincei (now he is deputy) and is a researcher at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (Infn). It is a long way from working in an ivory tower. He has always taken the field to criticize the policies of cuts to research funds and has published various mathematical analyzes of the curves of the Covid epidemic.
Nobel Physics, the announcement of the prize to Giorgio Parisi
In 2010, on the death of the professor with whom he graduated in 1970, Nicola Cabibbo, with a thesis on bosone at the Higgs, Parisi said he was sorry because the Nobel Prize had never been awarded to his mentor’s research. Today, within himself, a part of that prize will surely be dedicated to him. The last Italian to win the physics prize was in 1984 Carlo Rubbia. Two years later Rita Levi Montalcini he had won the one for medicine.
Nobel Prize in Physics, Giorgio Parisi in 2018 Lectio Magistralis at Sapienza: “The future will surprise you”
Interviewed by the Nobel Academy on how he will celebrate, Parisi replied that he has not yet decided and that Covid restrictions will probably prevent him from organizing large ceremonies. “I’m happy, I didn’t expect it,” he said. But then he added sincerely: “I knew there could be possibilities.” Speaking of his two Nobel colleagues, he commented: “It is clear that for the next generation we must now act very quickly against climate change”.
Physicist Giorgio Parisi: “The Nobel? I hope so. But science has lost value in our age “
by Elena Dusi
Thank you Manabe showed how rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere lead to increased temperatures on the Earth’s surface. In the 1960s, he spearheaded the development of physical models of the earth’s climate and was the first to explore the interaction between the radiation balance and the vertical transport of air masses. His work laid the foundation for the development of current climate models.
About ten years later, Klaus Hasselmann created a model that connects weather and climate, thus answering the question of why climate models can be reliable despite the changing and chaotic weather. It has also developed methods for identifying specific signals, fingerprints, which both natural phenomena and human activities imprint on the climate. His methods have been used to show that the rise in temperature in the atmosphere is due to human emissions of carbon dioxide.
The president of the Infn Antonio Zoccoli outlined Parisi’s career as follows: “Giorgio’s contributions to physics have ranged across many fields: from particle physics, at the beginning of his career, with his work developed together with Altarelli fundamental for understanding the dynamics of proton-proton collisions in particle accelerators such as Lhc, to statistical mechanics, to spin glasses and condensed matter, to complex systems, up to supercomputers. Parisi’s great merit was having contributed in a decisive way to the sectors to which he dedicated himself , but above all to have done it ahead of time. Part of his genius is his ability to see, to anticipate, to understand before others what direction to take, what would become relevant for research. And also his pragmatism ” .
Last year, recognition went to the American’s discoveries on black holes Andrea Ghez, of the British Roger Penrose and some German Reinhard Genzel. The winners each year receive a gold medal and share the prize of 986 thousand euros. Yesterday the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to the Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their studies on the sense of touch. The chemistry award will be awarded tomorrow, then it will be the turn of literature, peace and – on Monday 11 October – economics. Due to Covid, the lavish awards ceremony will not take place this year either. The winners will receive them “at home” to avoid trips and ceremonies indoors, as the dinner and celebrations traditionally take place in Stockholm in December.
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