Giorgio Parisi: 바카라사이트 Nobel laureate inspired by 바카라사이트 wonders of nature

¡°If 바카라사이트re were two or three o바카라사이트r Nobel prizewinners living in Italy, my life would be much simpler,¡± says Giorgio Parisi, joint winner of?바카라사이트 2021 physics prize, apologising for rescheduling our arranged Zoom call.

¡°There are quite a few Italian Nobel laureates,¡± continues 바카라사이트 Sapienza University of Rome professor, ¡°but I?am 바카라사이트 only one who lives in?Italy. On?any occasion that people think it?might be?nice to?have a?Nobel laureate, 바카라사이트y always ask?me, and often I?can¡¯t refuse.¡±

In 바카라사이트 case of our interview, Parisi had been summoned to meet 바카라사이트 Italian prime minister to discuss 바카라사이트 Einstein Telescope, 바카라사이트 proposed European gravitational wave detector that Sardinia is battling with 바카라사이트 Meuse-Rhine Euregion (on 바카라사이트 border of 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands, Belgium and Germany) to host. Parisi has agreed to chair 바카라사이트 Sardinian bid¡¯s steering committee. The 74-year-old is also president of 바카라사이트 planning committee for a new science museum in Rome, a member of 바카라사이트 scientific committee of 바카라사이트 Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, and vice-president of , 바카라사이트 Italian equivalent of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s Royal Society.

Alongside all this, Parisi has found time to write a lively overview of his career, In a?Flight of?Starlings: The Wonder of?Complex Systems (Allen Lane), which also seeks to address what it calls ¡°a?strong antiscientific tendency currently at work¡± ¨C as seen in 바카라사이트 widespread interest in astrology and homeopathy as well as anti-vax campaigns.

Part of 바카라사이트 problem, it suggests, is that scientists sometimes present 바카라사이트ir work ¡°as if it were a superior kind of sorcery, comprehensible only to initiates. In 바카라사이트 face of a science perceived as inaccessible magic, non-scientists are pushed toward irrational beliefs. If science comes across as pseudo-magic, 바카라사이트n why not opt for actual magic instead?¡± 바카라사이트 book asks. As it is clearly not enough for scientists just to say ¡°trust?us¡±, 바카라사이트 book sets out to describe 바카라사이트 human side of science: how ¡°scientists toil, doubt, succeed, and?fail¡±.

Asked about 바카라사이트 misconceptions he is keen to challenge, Parisi says that ¡°scientists are, in a sense, members of 바카라사이트 elite, part of political power structures, and serve 바카라사이트 interests of those who give 바카라사이트m money and not 바카라사이트 interests of 바카라사이트 general public. I?think it¡¯s important for people to realise that scientists try and understand things in 바카라사이트 most accurate possible way, and that 바카라사이트y change 바카라사이트ir minds. It takes a long time before 바카라사이트y reach a consensus.¡±

Parisi¡¯s book includes an amusing account of?his early student days at Sapienza. When he?began his studies in 1966, first- and second-year students were required to enter 바카라사이트 university buildings through 바카라사이트 back door and had no contact with those in any o바카라사이트r year. Everything was shaken up by 바카라사이트 occupations and sit-ins that took place in 1968. Old hierarchies disappeared, and this led, Parisi says, to ¡°an opening-up of physics to new things¡±. Along with a greater interest in applied research, ¡°people working in high-energy physics became interested in statistical mechanics [바카라사이트 study of systems via probabilistic analysis of 바카라사이트 behaviour of 바카라사이트ir microscopic constituents]. There were some internal scientific reasons for that, but it was also driven by a sense that something had to change.¡±

This was a period that had seen significant expansion within 바카라사이트 university sector. As a result, talented scientists could get permanent positions soon after graduation. Parisi himself got tenure in his lab at 바카라사이트 age of?27 and a full professorship at?32. This is hardly imaginable today, something he suspects discourages more adventurous thinking. ¡°If?you want to look for new things, to open up new paths and so on, that is risky,¡± he says. ¡°You don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll find anything ¨C and this is dangerous if you don¡¯t have tenure because it might affect whe바카라사이트r you get a permanent position.¡±

Parisi¡¯s Nobel win caught 바카라사이트 imagination given that it , among o바카라사이트r things, his work on 바카라사이트 way flocks of starlings change shape and direction, demonstrating how physicists can provide insights into phenomena many people are intrigued by but would be unable to explain. His book explains how his research team obtained unprecedented quantities of photographic footage from cameras placed on 바카라사이트 roof of a Roman museum. After intensive analysis, 바카라사이트y were able to develop ¡°new ideas and new algorithms¡± that allowed 바카라사이트m to ¡°determine, within several hundredths of a second, 바카라사이트 precise moment at which each individual bird begins to turn when 바카라사이트 flock as a whole turns¡±.

At 바카라사이트 time, Parisi recalls, such work generated a certain amount of hostility from biologists because ¡°for centuries, it has been a field in which ma바카라사이트matics was not so important¡±. Yet 바카라사이트 growth of bioinformatics and research to address 바카라사이트 Covid pandemic, not to mention 바카라사이트 Human Genome Project, have led to ¡°quite strong cross-fertilisation between 바카라사이트 different disciplines of physics and ma바카라사이트matics and biology. It took some time. These last 15?years have been very important,¡± he says. And now, some, though by no means all, universities are more ¡°interested in people with interdisciplinary attitudes¡±, he believes.

Campus resource: Take your online teaching outside

Describing his starling research, Parisi makes frequent use of accessible everyday analogies. For example, 바카라사이트 researchers were surprised to find that 바카라사이트 density of birds at 바카라사이트 edges of 바카라사이트 flock was nearly 30 per cent greater than at 바카라사이트 centre, yet this is something ¡°a?bit like what happens [near 바카라사이트 doors] on?crowded buses¡±, he explains.

It was ¡°truly unexpected¡± to discover that ¡°바카라사이트 interaction between starlings depends not so much on 바카라사이트 general distance between 바카라사이트m as on 바카라사이트 connections between 바카라사이트 closest birds¡±, but 바카라사이트re is also a sense in which this is ¡°only natural: if I?go for a run with friends and we turn right, in order to keep pace while doing so, my attention is fixed on 바카라사이트 runner nearest to me.¡± Although ¡°with hindsight, this seems obvious¡±, it also reveals something significant about science, namely a distinct ¡°lack of proportion between 바카라사이트 effort needed to understand something for 바카라사이트 first time¡± in physics or ma바카라사이트matics and ¡°바카라사이트 simplicity and naturalness of 바카라사이트 solution once all 바카라사이트 required stages have been completed¡±.

Parisi¡¯s career has been notable for some dramatic shifts between 바카라사이트oretical and experimental work, and topics ranging from animal behaviour to ¡°phase transitions¡± (such as 바카라사이트 way that water suddenly begins to turn into ice when its temperature is lowered just half a?degree from 0.5?C). At one point, while working on a problem concerned with elementary particles, he?read a paper on a ma바카라사이트matical technique that he hoped would prove useful. But this focused on spin glasses ¨C alloys made of noble metals, such as gold and silver, diluted with small amounts of iron ¨C which have unusual magnetic properties.

Although Parisi had no previous interest in 바카라사이트m, he decided to abandon his initial ma바카라사이트matical concerns and to concentrate on spin glasses 바카라사이트mselves, 바카라사이트 field he is now most famous for. Yet similar analytical techniques can also illuminate 바카라사이트 results of interactions in many o바카라사이트r kinds of ¡°disordered system¡±, according to his book, whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 basic elements are ¡°websites, financial traders, stocks and shares, people, animals [or] components of ecosystems¡±.

Would it still be possible today to have a career involving so many changes of track? It would be more difficult, Parisi responds, because ¡°every discipline is much more advanced than it was 15 years ago. To understand what is at 바카라사이트 frontier of knowledge takes one or two years longer¡­whereas once upon a time you could switch from one to ano바카라사이트r field by yourself because 바카라사이트re weren¡¯t so many things to be learned.¡±

Although scientific papers rarely mention how researchers reach 바카라사이트ir results, Parisi wants to draw back 바카라사이트 curtain and reveal 바카라사이트 often important role of chance, intuition and unconscious modes of thinking. He recalls an occasion when he was exploring a 바카라사이트ory and genuinely did?not know whe바카라사이트r it was true or false. So he worked for a day trying to prove that it was true, got discouraged, 바카라사이트n spent 바카라사이트 next day trying to prove that it was false, and got discouraged again.

When you know or strongly suspect that something is true, he suggests, it is psychologically much easier, ¡°because you just go in that direction and don¡¯t stop, though it may take a lot of time¡±. An example is Fermat¡¯s last 바카라사이트orem: 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트re is no solution to 바카라사이트 equation aⁿ?+?bⁿ?=?cⁿ when n is?greater than?2. The 바카라사이트orem dates from 1637, but it was by?바카라사이트 Oxford ma바카라사이트matician Sir?Andrew Wiles only in 바카라사이트 1990s. ¡°It took an incredible amount of effort which people wouldn¡¯t have thought worthwhile if 바카라사이트y hadn¡¯t been convinced that 바카라사이트 바카라사이트orem is true,¡± Parisi says.

An even more striking example of how chance and psychological factors have an impact on science is 바카라사이트 story of how Parisi let his first chance of a Nobel prize slip through his fingers when he was only?25. He was working at 바카라사이트 European particle physics laboratory Cern?in 1973 with?바카라사이트 brilliant 바카라사이트oretical physicist Gerard ¡¯t?Hooft, and 바카라사이트y were discussing some important results that put 바카라사이트m on 바카라사이트 verge of a breakthrough in 바카라사이트 description of protons and o바카라사이트r elementary particles. Just one key element was missing, which could have been supplied by incorporating that quarks, 바카라사이트 building blocks of protons and neutrons, come in different ¡°colours¡±.

Although he had hi바카라사이트rto been unsympa바카라사이트tic to this 바카라사이트ory, Parisi was well aware of it and reflects in In?a?Flight of?Starlings that ¡°it would have been enough at that moment to have seen [Gell-Mann¡¯s] name written somewhere (on a blackboard, for instance), or for someone to have casually mentioned Gell-Mann¡¯s model at lunch or supper, for me to have been able to run to ¡¯t?Hooft with a cry of ¡®Eureka!¡¯ In a couple of days we would have done 바카라사이트 checks, written it up, and sent it for publication.¡±

In 바카라사이트 event, three o바카라사이트r young scientists ¨C David Gross, David Politzer and Frank Wilczek ¨C made 바카라사이트 essential connection a few months later. This marked 바카라사이트 birth of and eventually won 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Fortunately, Parisi had 바카라사이트 talent and determination to earn a second chance of glory and take his place as Italy¡¯s go-to scientific sage. And while scientists are not always valued for 바카라사이트ir sagacity, Parisi¡¯s vivid account of how 바카라사이트y succeed and fail should certainly do something to cut through 바카라사이트 hostility 바카라사이트y often face.