With Riccardo Cucini, Trieste is among the winners of FameLab Italy 2014

The final national contest of FameLab Italy was held on Saturday, May 3rd: Riccardo Cucini, researcher working in Trieste, ranks third and wins the prize awarded by the audience

Thanks to Riccardo Cucini, a researcher at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste has reached the podium in the talent show for science communication FameLab Italy 2014, the national final competition of which was held Saturday, May 3rd at the Teatro Pavone in Perugia, hosted by Psiquadro and the British Council. The national competition was divided in two stages: the first was held in the morning with all of the 14 representatives selected at a regional level in the past few months (Ancona, Genoa, Milan, Naples, Perugia, Trento and Trieste). The second and final contest, held in the evening, featured only 7 contestants, two of whom from Trieste: Riccardo and Claudia Antolini from SISSA, Trieste. The national competition was thus won by Marco Ferrigo, a mathematics undergraduate selected in Genoa, who illustrated to the audience how freedom of thought and creativity in mathematics enable us to to fully appreciate the beauty of the world. Ferrigo will be representing Italy at the international competition FameLab, which will be held in Cheltenham, United Kingdom, from June 2 to 6 at the Cheltenham Science Festival, where he will be challenging representatives from 25 countries.

The second position was awarded to Veronica Ruberti, selected in Trento, who focused on the issue of phantom limbs, telling the audience about the sensations of the patient with theatrical competence and introducing some of the open issues in the research on this phenomenon.

Last but not least, the bronze medal was awarded to Riccardo Cucini, a Tuscan physicist who works in Trieste and winner of the local selection organized by the Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico, the University of Trieste and the Municipality of Trieste. Riccardo brought astronomy on the podium by compellingly describing how it is possible to reconstruct a star in a lab in order to observe its development process, thus enriching the data collected with the direct observation of the sky. Riccardo, who also won the prize awarded by the audience, skillfully captured the attention of the jury and the public by describing with striking metaphors what he called "the oven" that physicists use to reproduce star formation processes by accelerating elementary particles and collecting the light thus emitted.

The 14 winners of the local selections were evaluated by Paolo Nespoli, an astronaut for the European Space Agency, Sara Zambotti, an anthropologist and host of the RAI national broadcasting radio program (Caterpillar) and Riccardo Guidi, a biotechnologist and the first winner of FameLab Italy in 2012.

The presentations by the competitors were made all the more enjoyable and entertaining by the author and television presenter Federico Taddia and the musician Gabriel Mirabassi, who performed jazz improvisations with his clarinet on the inspiration of the musical themes chosen by the competitors.

"FameLab is an excellent training ground for young scientists who are more and more frequently called upon to deal with the public, in order to disseminate awareness about their work and convey their passion for research with a rich but accessible language. This is the main reason that induced us three years ago to introduce this competition in Italy" - said the president of Psiquadro, Irene Biagini, who also added:"The competition is an excellent opportunity to fine-tune the collaboration between Italian cities which in recent years have made great efforts to enhance the value of scientific culture as driver of economic development. " Trieste, Trento and Genoa, the three cities that occupied the podium, are but three out of the seven cities hosting FameLab Italy in 2014.

FameLab is an international competition that has already involved more than 200 young scientists and researchers in 9 Italian cities in the first two editions, while more than 2,000 competitors have taken part in the 20 countries involved worldwide in Europe, Asia and America.

Press release by Immaginario Scientifico:
Micol Ascoli Marchetti | 040 224337 • 348 7735988 | ascoli@immaginarioscientifico.it


 

Last Updated on Friday, 16 May 2014 12:45