Margherita Hack (Pietrasanta: June, 12, 2010) Saturday, 12, June 2010, was Margherita Hack’s birthday.

The astrophysics participated at the event: ‘Anteprima: ti presento il mio prossimo libro’ in Pietrasanta (Tuscany) where she did not have any problem to show her age: 88 years old. One of the smartest minds of our country, a unique power, a voice sometimes inconvenient, but clear, which succeed with her charisma to be loved and to bring people into the complex world of astrophysics.

The S. Agostino’s garden was fully crowd of people ready to welcome her affectionately. She came in all her simplicity, talking about astrophysics and politics, which has always seen her on the first line to explain her ideas, or sometimes criticize whom who are transforming Italy ‘on the way of under developed countries’. The professor declared that sciences in Italy have always been seen for minor minds. The governments of the last years confirmed this approach: the high maths have been considered as useless, because of the use of calculating machines; as well as the study of earthquakes. She added, with her usual sense of humor: ‘as we know, in Italy does not exist any earthquake: sometimes some hill falls down, destroying some villages, but they are just natural disasters’.

Also the study of universe, that would be nowadays a useful instrument, as been put on a second level, because of the need to cut funds. ‘Calderoli's idea’- she said- ‘built up a mess. They told him: give up, we will give the duty to someone else. And they give it to Minister Bondi!’ 2009 has been the year of the astronomy: 4 centuries after Galileo understood that Aristotele was wrong, saying that all the stars far from the moon, were perfect and steady. ‘And Aristotele was like the Pope: he was always right!’.

Galileo in 1604 started to study this ‘super nova’ of Keplero- from the name of the scientist who discovered it for the first time-: for months, with just a knife, he watched it every day. After a while, he realized that the position did not change, that means that was a steady star, more far than the moon: so Aristotele was wrong. Afterwards, on 1609, he also realized that the Moon had hills and plains such as the Earth, so it was not perfect and unchangeable. As we know, Galileo has been forced to forswear. Grown up a large ovation when she compare Galileo’ s bad experience with the so-called ‘Legge Bavaglio’ proposed by our government, which force journalists to run away from our countries, guilty to have done properly their job. Margherita told that she should have done her degree in October 1944, but because of the II world war, the city was desert and dark, because of the curfew ‘so we worked very well’- said, giving a smile to the public, for her ironic and smart way to speak. She studied physics, but casually she found the opportunity to do her thesis on astrophysics. Because of the war, the universities were closed: so she spent all the night on the observatory of Arcetri, on South Florence’s hills. She felt as she has been privileged to have a fixed-term contract just for three years: ‘in 1948 I was already in the paradise of the civil servants’.

Nowadays instead, the policies of the cost-cutting force our best minds to leave our country, going abroad, where they can find better job opportunities; and also our best universities do not have funds for instruments to work properly, such as libraries or teachers. She underlined proudly that the best minds on a European Level are Italian: for example, the European Astronomical Observatory made a project on a telescope of 40 m of diameter; ‘While I did my thesis with one of 40 cm!’: the project has been made by an Italian scientist.

‘We are so much smaller than stars, but our brain is extremely more complex: we are able to understand why they dye, how are they made, which is the universe’s structure. Instead of feeling so small, we should rather feel so big’.

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