Hello to Piero Angela (22 December 1928, 13 August 2022)

The Italian world of science and science communication is in mourning: at 93 years and 8 months, Piero Angela died in the morning of Saturday 13th Augustafter an almost seventy-year television career and an extraordinary public service of journalism and dissemination that has made him one of the most loved and appreciated characters in the Italian cultural scene.

To announce the disappearance of his son Alberto Angela, via Twitter shortly before noon.

Born in Piedmont, a Turinin December 1928, he had started his career as radio journalistthen move on to television in 1954. Fourteen years later he became presenter of the first edition of the National News at 1.30pm and in 1976 he was the first presenter of Tg2. After having been a correspondent from abroad and also a war correspondent, Piero Angela had already worked on the documentary series since 1968 The future in spaceentirely dedicated to the program Apolloand in fact began his very long activity of scientific publication.

Among his broadcasts we remember for example Target man (in 1971), From zero to three years, Where does the world go?, In the darkness of the light years, Investigation of parapsychology And In the cosmos in search of life. Then, since 1981 the series that has sanctioned its great success: Quarkthen evolved in 1995 in the format Superquark, aired continuously throughout the years until this summer. The most recent episode just this week, Wednesday 10th August.

In parallel to the television activity, Angela has also written dozens of books successful, all centered on science and on his disclosure. From In the cosmos in search of life (1980) a The thinking machine (1983), from Oceans (1991) a The challenge of the century (2006), up to Journey into the mind: knowing the brain to keep it in shape (2014), Thirteen billion years. The novel of the universe (2015), The eyes of the Mona Lisa (2016) and the autobiographical book My long journey published in 2017. Commendable, throughout his career, his effort to tell about scientific progress and to fight against forms of disinformation, including fake news.