MILAN – On the day following the announcement of his next appointment as a physics lecturer, the Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia reflects on his new status as an academic. Professor Rubbia, will you update us on the latest events? “The following happens: The minister signed the decree that recognizes me as a scientist of ‘clear fame’.
At the same time the rector of the University of Pavia Schmid asked me to come and see him at the end of the month to define the details of the position of professor from the first of November. The specific subject of teaching still remains to be defined. “Is the salary of a” well-known professor “the same as a normal teacher or is he higher?” I do not know. But the salary is not among my decision – making parameters, in this circumstance. “Do you consider the assignment to Pavia a sort of compensation due to the Italian university for the ostracism that had declared it?” We say that for years I have felt, not I say an excluded, but a block. Now, thanks to the rector and to the minister Berlinguer, the isolation is over. But it took three university ministers to unblock the situation. Now we’re out of the turbulence zone and I think the trip will be quiet. “She once lost a competition at the chair, is not it?” It’s an old story, which dates back to the late sixties. Before the assignment to Harvard, which I held for eighteen years, I tried the way of the Italian university, but I was rejected. Indeed, the right word is: rejected. “You have often complained about Italy’s lack of commitment to research. Does the current call to Pavia be seen as a sign of the country’s renewed interest in science? substantial discrepancy between the economic role of Italy – sixth or seventh in the ranking of the richest – and the resources that the country invests in scientific research, so scarce resources not to be found elsewhere in Europe. Now I think that the convergence on the Maastricht parameters does not concern only the currency or the public debt but also the ability to compete on the technological level.
As there is a roadmap for the economy on approaching Europe, so there should be a similar timetable for research and development. Countries such as France, England and Germany, which spend twice as much on research, I do not think they are willing to make common cause with Italy, which devotes only 1.2 of the national income to science. “Also President Prodi says that entering Europe means aligning itself in the scientific effort. “Yes, but from saying to doing …” Returning to his position, “Rubbia professor at Pavia” is therefore a sign of resipiscence, of repentance? “Well, I would say that it is a serious attempt to establish a productive relationship with a person, let’s say an expert, who intends to work hard. “Why do you design the prototype of its Energy Amplifier, the intrinsically safe reactor in Spain? Maybe because it did not find in Italy the favorable ground? “No. Having a reliable and clean source of energy is a global problem and not one nation.
In fact, countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain and also Italy are today engaging in a substantial way in the realization of the Energy Amplifier. If Italy had reacted with more readiness and determination – my proposal to build the new machine dates back more than two years ago – now it could play a bigger role in the company. Nevertheless, 40% of the capital of the Spanish company was underwritten by our country “.
What is the next stage of the Amplifier? “There will be a large European initiative, in the framework of the next Framework Program valid until 2002, which will be able to count on the Brussels funds and will have as its aim the construction of a prototype.The intervention of the European Union will act as a catalyst for the initiatives that they are rising up everywhere on the way to the Amp. ” Can we say that there is a European Union also for science, just as it exists for agricultural productions or industrial incentives? “There is a body called the European Science and Technology Assembly which is a sort of European science parliament, it is a vast body, but for now it is looking for its own rhythm, the Union still spends on milk I do not know how many times more than for science In some areas, from the physics of high energy to astronomy, Europe has been able to equip itself with important common research laboratories.In other fields, unitary intent is struggling to establish itself “.