Farewell to Piero Angela. Gone is the great popularizer of science

The great popularizer of science Alberto Angela left us tonight. Announcing his passing a few minutes ago was his son Alberto Angela, with a laconic post on Facebook (“Happy travels dad”). He leaves behind his wife, Margherita Pastore, whom he married in 1955, and his children Alberto and Christine. With his television programs, he contributed to the dissemination of scientific culture in Italy and brought to our country an Anglo-Saxon model of scientific broadcasting destined to set the standard, radically innovating the documentary genre.

Born in Turin on December 22, 1928, to the anti-fascist physician Carlo Angela (during World War II he saved the lives of numerous Jews by falsifying their medical records: for this action he was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem) and Maria Luigia Maglia, after his studies at the classical high school in his hometown he began his career as a jazz pianist (that for music was a passion he would never abandon: for many years in fact he used to play the piano even in his broadcasts), under the name “Peter Angela.” In 1952 he gave up his career as a professional musician (he had meanwhile played with important jazz musicians such as Rex Stewart, Franco Mondini, Nini Rosso and others) to begin his career as a journalist at RAI. He was among the pioneers of television journalism: when broadcasting began in 1954, Angela was a correspondent for the News, first from Paris and then from Brussels, finally becoming in 1968 anchor of the 1:30 p.m. news and, in 1976, the first anchor of TG2. As a journalist he also held the post of war correspondent: in fact, he followed the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Vietnam War in 1968.

Also in 1968 he began to make a number of documentaries entitled The Future in Space, dedicated to NASA’s Apollo program: this was the beginning of his activity in popularizing science, which continued with broadcasts dedicated to science such as Destinazione Uomo, Da Zero a Tre Anni, Dove va il mondo?, Nel buio degli anni luce, Indagine sulla parapsicologia, Nel cosmo alla ricerca della vita. Instead, it dates back to 1981 when Quark - Journeys in the World of Science began, a title “borrowed from physics,” Piero Angela himself explained when introducing the program, “where many studies are being carried out on certain hypothetical subnuclear particles called precisely quarks, which would be the smallest building blocks of matter known so far. So it’s a bit of going inside things.” The program’s formula, destined to be a huge success, was that of the popular container: the BBC’s science and animal documentaries were broadcast, there were in-depth features and interviews with experts, reproductions of experiments, and initially also Bruno Bozzetto’s cartoons with which the most difficult scientific concepts were introduced.

Quark, preceded by its famous theme song with theAria from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Suite No. 3 in D major BWV 1068, aired from 1981 to 1989 on Rai Uno, and several spin-offs were made from it that went into depth on different topics: Quark’s World (1984), dedicated to anthropology; Quark Economics and Quark Europe (1986); Quark in Pills, with shorter clips; Quark Italians (1988), with documentaries on nature by Italian authors; and then again Quark Special in 1992, which offered David Altenborough’s series The Challenges of Life in Italy; Quark Encyclopedia (1993), with in-depth monographs on different disciplines; Quark Summer (1993), with 11 unreleased documentaries; and Quark Evening. In contrast, the program’s evolution, SuperQuark, dates from 1995, so named because the typical length of an evening of Quark was doubled (to two hours), although the format remained virtually unchanged: the program began with a nature documentary (these were mostly BBC and, from 1998, National Geographic documentaries, which were then followed by an in-studio commentary), and continued with reports and interviews with studio guests, times when scientific experiments were often conducted in the company of physicist Paco Lanciano.

SuperQuark is still ongoing: the new season, the show’s twenty-ninth, began just last July 6. Piero Angela then collaborated with his son Alberto as the author of Ulisse, the monographic program devoted mainly to history and science (a curiosity: by Piero Angela’s precise wishes, his son Alberto never called him “dad” at work, but called him by his first name). He then edited the Science and Society column on TV Sorrisi e Canzoni and was editor of Quark magazine, published from 2001 to 2006. He was also among the founders of CICAP. During his long career he received twelve honorary degrees, won seven telegattas, and an asteroid (the 7197 Pieroangela) and even a mollusk (the Babylonia pieroangelai) were dedicated to him. In 2004 he was awarded the title of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and in 2021 the title of Knight of Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

His manner of popularization was distinguished by anapparent narrative lightness that nevertheless concealed rigorous and thorough research and drafting of accurate content. In his 1917 book My Long Journey, a kind of summation of his career, he also had occasion to talk about his idea of popularization. “To divulge,” he wrote, “means, in practice, to translate from Italian into Italian, saying the same things clearly. A job that is not always easy because in order to explain, one must first have a good understanding.” “According to my experience,” Alberto Angela added, “it is possible to explain even complex issues to a large audience, perhaps helping oneself with effective graphics so that the basic concepts can be understood.” And this also applies to cultural popularization, which Angela considered fundamental: “Italy is full of places that can be enhanced and attract visitors, allowing them to better understand what they are seeing. It is a popularization operation (this time not scientific, but cultural) that I think is very important because it brings the public closer to our great past, and it can also create greater sensitivity to the preservation of the immense heritage we have inherited.”

Piero Angela’s last message was entrusted to SuperQuark’s Facebook page, “Dear friends, I am sorry to no longer be with you after 70 years together. But nature has its rhythms too. These have been very stimulating years for me that have brought me to know the world and human nature. Above all, I was fortunate to meet people who helped me realize what every man would like to discover. Thanks to science and a method of approaching problems rationally but at the same time humanely. Despite a long illness, I managed to complete all my broadcasts and projects (even a small satisfaction: a piano jazz record...). But also, sixteen episodes dedicated to the school on environmental and energy issues. It was an extraordinary adventure, lived intensely and made possible thanks to the collaboration of a great group of authors, collaborators, technicians and scientists. In my turn, I have tried to tell what I have learned. Dear all, I think I have done my part. Try to do yours as well for this difficult country of ours. A big hug.”

Farewell to Piero Angela. Gone is the great popularizer of science

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