"May not a firestorm fall from the sky". The Italian science theatre in the Sixties

With the coming of the nuclear era, but most of all in the Cold War years, the complex evolution of natural sciences invaded with vehemence public debate as soon as, in an unprecedented and global measure, there took place a redefinition of the symbolic power of science in its relationships with collective cultural capital and the formalization/narration of specialized knowledge. While Italy was facing up to its most sweeping phase of modernization, experiencing - though often confusedly - forms of cultural interchange and divulgation hitherto ignored, public debate would draw attention on scientific themes and in particular on the con troversial issue of scientific progress. This essay examines the wide-range discourses grown around a limited corpus of representations, in an attempt to add information on how, in the period considered, both the ultimate goal of science and the presence, competence and social role of scientists were given a renewed treatment.

Keywords: Science, representations of scientific progress, Italy, (the) Sixties, nuclear era, Cold War

Alessandra Gissi, "Che dal ciel non cada un fuoco" Il teatro della scienza negli anni sessanta in Italia in "ITALIA CONTEMPORANEA" 274/2014, pp 103-119, DOI: 10.3280/IC2014-274004