One of the consequences that the earthquake of 6 April 2009 in L'Aquila brought with it was the depopulation of the "University City". Subsequently, the scientific community reacted with a rebirth project that had the aim of creating a modern city of knowledge capable of attracting highly qualified people, simultaneously starting a process of repopulation.
Thus was born the Gran Sasso Science Institute, an international doctoral school, research center and higher education. Its founder and current Rector, Eugenio Coccia, an internationally renowned physicist, was one of the authors of the discovery of gravitational waves and the first observation of the merger of two black holes. Fine popularizer, he told us about himself and how the scientific excellence of the GSSI was born.
The GSSI was born in the L'Aquila area after the wound from the earthquake. A strong choice in a difficult moment, almost a challenge within a challenge. How did the idea of the GSSI come about?
The GSSI was born as a response to the earthquake of 6 April 2009. The University of L'Aquila had suffered severe damage and in order to guarantee students and teachers the completion of the academic year we hosted at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the INFN, of which I was Director at the time, the students and professors of the Faculty of Physics. This circumstance gave me the opportunity to reflect with my colleagues on the future of the University and of L'Aquila as a university city. There was a strong risk of losing the student population: one no longer willingly comes to study in a place affected by the earthquake. We therefore imagined a new project that would relaunch L'Aquila as a modern European city of studies and knowledge, combining an excellent generalist university with an institute of advanced studies of international scope that would attract highly qualified human capital. Initially it was thought of a doctoral school of hard sciences: physics, mathematics and computer science. Then we added the social science area of territorial development, necessary for the territory that was to be reborn. The initiative also met with the favor of the citizens of L'Aquila who were interviewed about it. We started in 2013 by recruiting doctoral students, making ten scholarships available for each of the four doctoral areas and the response was surprising: over five hundred applications for forty scholarships. The idea worked and after three years the positive ANVUR evaluation arrived. Since 2016, in fact, we have entered the category of high schools.
From the outset, the GSSI was born as a partner of the great Italian research institutes, the flagship of our country and the world.
What is the goal of an example of scientific excellence?
Our goal is to place L'Aquila on the map of advanced study schools among the cities of knowledge, with the collaboration of institutions already operating in the area such as the University of L'Aquila, which after the earthquake restarted under the banner of quality. We are working on the "Ferrante D'Aragona" project, in collaboration with the Municipality of L'Aquila and the University. It is a foundation, in memory of the King who was the first to give the consent to make one studium, which will reward the most deserving students with a scholarship with which they will be able to bear the rent costs. The houses will be free and secured in the historic centre, so as to repopulate the heart of the city, creating a widespread boarding school for deserving students and teachers. This is one of the concrete initiatives that make the City of Knowledge project credible. We must not only consider reconstruction, there is also "construction", otherwise we are always one step behind. Just think that in L'Aquila there is a public school in English, from kindergarten to high school. It is a very important aspect if we want to attract international and Italian excellence operating abroad. All this makes us look to the future of this city with optimism.
The relevant news is the so-called "brain drain", i.e. researchers trained in Italy who, however, choose to find abroad the desired modes of expression and which their own country has not offered them.
The GSSI, on the other hand, attracts international researchers who decide to carry out their high-level research here. What differentiates the GSSI from other research institutions?
The GSSI is a doctoral school which is placed in the range of the Scuola Normale of Pisa and the SISSA of Trieste, for example. We are the first "south of Pisa" and with pleasure we are witnessing the birth of a school of advanced studies in Naples: we are rooting for them! We differ because we are younger, both for the constitution and for the average age of the people who are here, and because we are interdisciplinary: physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, economists, sociologists, geographers meet in the same corridors. This makes common projects like those of Smart cities e smart communities, which bring together computer and social scientists or like the earthquake simulation projects and the study of precursors from space that unite mathematicians and physicists, to name but a few. Two other important characteristics are the objective of bridging research and business and a concrete commitment to social justice.
Our results are open, for us data is a public good and it must be returned to the public. An example is the site we created to make the data related to the post-earthquake reconstruction of L'Aquila usable () where all the data such as contracts and orders are entered, divided by buildings and apartments. An enormous amount of public and private reconstruction data, with geo-referenced maps where it is possible to click on a single building to find out the name of the designer, the companies that are working on it, the costs of the contract and much more. This too is part of our commitment to being concrete. We are young and we were born with the stigmata of the earthquake. Engaging in social work is a duty for us.
In his academic career he was lucky enough to have one of the "boys of via Panisperna" as a teacher, Edoardo Amaldi.
Enrico Fermi's leadership skills made a team of researchers a spearhead of the scientific evolution of nuclear physics.
What did it mean for your approach as Rector of the GSSI to have had such a unique guide in the history of scientific research?
Edoardo Amaldi represented for me a moral, as well as scientific, example of dedication and extraordinary wisdom. There is a beautiful phrase that I read somewhere, "knowledge comes from words, wisdom from things". Well, Amaldi has seen a lot… I was in his group for ten years, then at CERN in Geneva, where we had the experiment. I spent many hours with him working and talking. I was young, just graduated, I was very curious and tickled him about Enrico Fermi, Ettore Majorana and Bruno Pontecorvo, he was very open. I later learned, with surprise, that Amaldi was reputed by some as a severe person, who often got angry... but perhaps they deserved it because I personally remember him as a very sweet man, helpful with young people.
The subjects of the STEM area (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) have always appeared "difficult" to the eyes of most. In your experience, what can be an effective communication key to intrigue and - why not - excite young high school students about the study of these subjects?
Actually my experience with young people is very positive in this regard, I find a lot of attention on these issues… and how could it not be like this? We are on a small piece of rock suspended in the sky, which is part of a solar system, which in turn is part of a galaxy, within a universe whose size we do not know… the kids are curious, they feed the attention it deserves to be cultivated. We need to make them understand that their passions must be followed, studying is the best time we can use to improve ourselves. As I say so many times, we will certainly spend time with other people in life but there is one with whom we will spend it all: ourselves.
When we study, when we are passionate about it, when we are attracted by culture… we make ourselves more interesting, we feel better. But if you don't study what interests you... what a struggle! Personally I try to make the kids understand that the physical concept is natural, simple. Symmetry and harmony are an intrinsic part of our nature. The Universe is fascinating because it is understandable, it is simple in its depths. These are the messages that in my opinion should be given. Of course you have to chew a little math… but even Albert Einstein struggled at the beginning.
Gianni Amelio's film "The Boys of Via Panisperna" represents a cross-section of being a "researcher". How do you, who met one of those legendary "boys", feel about this film story?
Gianni Amelio's film is a very interesting film, perhaps historically it is a bit fictionalized, I am referring, for example, to Ettore Majorana's awareness of the results of research. Amaldi spoke to me of Majorana as a genius but also as a sometimes gloomy person and I think that his disappearance is linked to personal problems. Here, perhaps from this point of view, Gianni Amelio's film winks a bit at the cliché of the strange scientist. It's a movie to watch, I really enjoyed it.
In the show "The Fermi Boys" you staged the history of modern science with some children through a fascinating journey through the great discoveries of contemporary physics. Where did the idea of bringing the world of physics closer to theatrical art come from?
I wanted to tell the story of via Panisperna in this way, to make concepts easily understood by as wide an audience as possible. For example, electrons being light were interpreted by first graders, protons and neutrons, which are heavier, by fifth graders. Remains in the audience, even the most fasted, the fact that electrons are light and protons are heavy. In the same way it was explained how the atom works, the children represented its fission. It is a work of dissemination and play. Science and art are activities that are closer than one might think because symmetry, harmony and beauty are concepts that belong to us and, in fact, we apply them both to works of art and to discoveries in the scientific field, which are defined "beautiful". Many times we say "this equation is wonderful" ... well, why do you apply the same adjective to a sculpture, a painting and a mathematical equation, what do they have in common? They have these harmonies in common, the proportions between things, a synthesis of different parts that suddenly become one, as in the scientific case. Science tries to respond logically to empirical questions...how the universe is made, what is its origin and what is its end, how matter is made in its depths. By answering these questions we find that nature behaves in a way that is very simple, yet simple in the most beautiful way possible. Art itself is not an answer, perhaps a question. Science tries to understand nature with reason and art is the expression of how nature is perceived. For me the two activities are very, very similar.
GSSI collaborates in the REDI project (REducing risks of natural DIsasters) with other research institutions including INGV. How important is the synergy between institutions in the process of reducing risks from natural disasters?
It is very important because in Italy we have excellence both within public research bodies and in universities. Combining skills on transversal topics such as risk analysis, the culture of prevention and resilience can only generate positive projects.
What is the next "stage" of the GSSI?
The next stage is consolidation. We are in a growth phase, we still have to recruit researchers and teachers to reach the size of other advanced training high schools. The goal is also to consolidate our reputation, given the projects we carry out, without ever forgetting to help build the L'Aquila of the future. It's one of the reasons we were born.