This is my idea of a hotel lobby full of superstars–John Nash, Freeman Dyson, Shelley Glashow, and David Mumford have all turned up in “The Duke Hotel”, not far from Rome’s huge Festival della Matematica, which starts this morning.
Wow.
Tonight, Umberto Eco is giving a talk about “Perverse Uses of Mathematics” — in Italian, which I speak badly but understand well. (This is in contrast to Spanish, where I can easily make myself understood but have to keep asking my children what other people just said. Very mysterious.)
The Duke seems an unlikely name for a hotel in Rome–then again, it seems like an unlikely nickname for a movie star born in Winterset, Iowa. But The Duke is indeed a very Roman hotel–big beautiful bathtub, bidet, and balcony.
My plan for today is to sit in the Piazza Navona drinking coffee and writing about Sidney Coleman. There’s a whole chapter in the book I’m writing that swirls around Sidney and the Erice physics summer schools. Black Italian espresso is the perfect inspiration!
Advice from The (John Wayne) Duke that I should work harder on following: “Talk low, talk slow, and don’t talk too much.”
2 responses so far ↓
1 TA // Mar 13, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Sarebbe interessante qualche dettaglio sulla relazione tra Zichichi, personaggio a dir poco controverso (sperimentale cattolico e conservatore nonche’ divulgatore di… zichicche) e Coleman, apparentemente suo opposto in tutto.
Just testing you. ;)
2 Betsy Devine // Mar 14, 2008 at 6:59 am
I never saw Zichichi proselytize any scientists with his political and religious views. The thing that came across when you spent time at the school (we were there in ’81 and ’83) was his enthusiasm for physics and physicists, for his school and his life in Erice. I experienced him as a warm-hearted godfather-uncle figure, beaming out energy , now and then waving a magical wand to make problems disappear.
Sidney Coleman, also noted for his enthusiasm and good humor, probably enjoyed Zichichi’s company very much.
I am glad I didn’t claim to be able to respond to your question in Italian!