PRISTEM Notes for a History of Italian Intellectuals of the Twentieth Century

For the world of mathematics, the 1900s open with the presence of eminent Italian researchers and schools of thought that give rise to a consolidated tradition of study. Some called it the "mathematical spring". Vito Volterra and Federigo Enriques were intellectual figures – quite different, of course – with scientific backgrounds. They were mathematicians with great scientific credibility as well as personal authority. Their professional competence was projected into other social and cultural contexts, and they managed to act in the general interest, not only in defense of their own fields.

Twenty years of fascism interrupted this season. The first decades following the second world war obviously brought many innovations with respect to pre-fascist Italy. The attempt by scientists to engage in dialogue with other fields and to make their voices heard on social issues was now being promoted by other branches of study (rather than mathematics). Among the participants still contributing to the science-society-politics discussion were several important industrial entities. The talk was of an "industrial culture" that naturally recognized the role of science but was equally keen to gather input from other areas. Then came the late sixties and the figure of the "enlightened" or "committed" intellectual assumed new connotations. After which we arrive at the decades closer to today's world.

This story of intellectuals in Italy in the last century is highly complex and offers a wealth of facets to explore. The aim of the conference in Milan from 16-18 June ("Appunti per una storia degli intellettuali italiani nel Novecento", in Italian) is to provide the PRISTEM Centre an initial opportunity to gather up some "notes" on this matter byfocusing on certain episodes, stories and people. PRISTEM wants to better understand and emphasize the presence of intellectuals from scientific backgrounds in our cultural history. The purpose is to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of this presence against Italian history and politics, and against more general dynamics of other fields of study and other cultures in order to set up preliminary comparisons with analogous stories in other countries.