Interview with ISSI-BJ Discipline Scientist Maurizio Falanga for "La Riscossa"
On July 2, 2021, the online newspaper "La Riscossa" ("The Comeback") published an interview with the ISSI-BJ former Executive Director and currently ISSI-BJ Discipline Scientist Maurizio Falanga on scientific development, the contribution of science to social progress, and the challenges of promoting science in different contexts and countries.
Prof. Falanga was questioned by the journalist Pietro Fiocchi about several topics, starting with the role of ISSI-BJ as a neutral platform to connect Chinese and international scientists and to promote Chinese missions, to the Martian competition that is inflaming the souls of several countries.
And where is the lunar research carried out by China, currently under the limelight, going to lead? It is not merely a display of muscles, states Prof. Falanga, as the impressive Chinese lunar program is making the country's progress and scientific advancement well-known to the whole world. International cooperation is still what one wishes for in regard to this kind of major projects, though, as they do not only entail high costs, but scientific results may benefit societies in many ways, e.g., by preventing solar storms.
Finally, Prof. Falanga was challenged to answer a question about political and economic interests that may "pollute" scientific research by interfering. Depending on the discipline, this may indeed happen, warns us Falanga, but he also reminds us of the impact of science on politics and parties' competition, as science may help corroborate "green" parties' environmental policies and their therefrom-resulting success in most recent years.
Could the ISSI legacy be brought to Rome, Italy's capital where Prof. Falanga completed his Ph.D. in Astrophysics?
Hopefully.
Read the full interview (in Italian) here.
