Non the 1970s, at the Milan Polytechnic, among the 300 students of Electronic Engineering, there were just over a dozen girls. Among them was Maria Eugenia D’Aquino, who already then added to the passion for numbers that for the theater. Over time the latter took over, but the former has never been forgotten. For six years Maria Eugenia has been the creator and curator of the ScienzaInScena theater festival, the only one of its kind in Milan and one of the first in Italy (ongoing until February 19 at the PACTA Salone, info pacta.org).
An image of Black Box, during the last edition of the ScienzaInScena Theater Festival.
A Festival where mathematics and physics, traditionally difficult for most, are transformed into engaging stories, and the biographies of researchers leave the laboratories to become adventures with unpredictable (in some cases even tragic) outcomes.
The ScienzaInscena project is actually the offspring of another project, Teatro in Matematica, which started 21 years ago in collaboration with a pool of the Polytechnic. «We immediately had success with the schools, it was the teachers themselves who asked us for a way to bring students closer to the “hard” disciplines» says Maria Eugenia D’Aquino. «Then we started collaborating with Inaf-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, and with other research institutions. ScienzaInScena was born in 2018, where we also host external companies».
Science in the theater “reveals”
The idea, however, is not to disseminate, indeed the word really does not like the head of the Festival. «The theater does not divulge but reveals» claims D’Aquino. «Through his language he provokes suggestions and visions that bring us closer to mathematics. In Black Black Sky a scientist, a choreographer, three dancers and an actress travel through space, starting from the Moon and passing 150 active volcanoes. In one of our latest productions, Black box, it does not explain what an algorithm is, but a story is told in which an algorithm creeps into our lives, until it dominates them. I think it worked: after a show, one evening a 16-year-old who had come alone texted me enthusiastically. Mathematics had entered his heart».
An outcome that is not taken for granted, especially in a country like ours which has a fluctuating relationship with mathematics and physics. Even those who should teach it often wobble: in the last competition for Stem teachers, 90 percent of the candidates failed the writings. «There is an intrinsic difficulty, the importance of understanding certain things is not made to feel. Families don’t realize how necessary it is for their children to do well in school», is the opinion of Stefano Sandrelli, astrophysicist at the Brera Observatory, who has been collaborating on the project for years (he was already Black Black Sky ). «In Italy we are not only excellent, but also among the very first. In astrophysics, for example, we are fourth in the world».
The most exciting topics? Philosophical ones
But how can science be told in theatre, according to a researcher? «We believe that it is not pure rationality, but that it has an emotional component, which is why it can be communicated well on stage» explains Sandrelli. «Theatre is a three-dimensional representation of those who do science. It is not a question of learning mathematics or physics – a specialized language would be needed there as for a foreign language, or for Latin – but of entering the mind of a scientist, imagining the phenomena. It’s like a photograph that isn’t perfectly focused: the image, and the emotion, are transmitted in any case».
The most exciting topics for viewers are the more philosophical ones: what is time, space, black holes… «Reality is complex, and the more tools we have to understand it, the better. Disclosure is offering ideas and content to a non-specialist audience without trivializing them. And so yes, in my opinion we can also speak of dissemination – and not just of revelation – of science in the theater». Adds Renato Betti, former professor of mathematics at the Polytechnic, also a project consultant: «I like to think that mathematics should be a habit of thought, have it inside and project it into everyday life. Simplifying does not mean taking away thickness».
Extraordinary biographies
In addition to the great themes, there are also extraordinary biographies to tell. Like that of Mario Tchou, brilliant engineer and visionary at the head of the new electronics division of Olivetti, died in an accident in 1961 (among his young collaborators was Renato Betti). With his death ended the dream of an Italy at the forefront of computers (his division was soon after sold to General Electric). But often the least known lives are those of female scientists.
Own today 11 February, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a novelty is represented at PACTA, Visionary Scientists – The World We Want. «Two environmental physicists from the Cnr, Cristina Mangia and Sabrina Presto, «present us with two great forerunners, Donella Meadows and Alice Hamilton» explains D’Aquino. Donella Meadows, a scientist at MIT, was among the first to talk about “limits to growth” and the need for sustainable development for the planet in the 1970s. Alice Hamilton, a doctor born in 1869, dealt with occupational safety and toxic substances »she continues.
D’Aquino has always had an eye on women; starting from Hypatia, he told the life of Hedy Lamarr, the actress considered the “mother” of wireless telephony and, several times, that of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, who lived in the eighteenth century, the first woman to obtain a university professorship in mathematics. “We think it’s important to bring back the forgotten lives of these women,” says D’Aquino. “Especially to make them known to men.”
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