“Il Genio delle Donne”, a short history of science for women by Piergiorgio Odifreddi is the book that will be presented on Wednesday 11 March at 6pm, at the Ippogrifo Bookstore bookshop in Corso Nizza, 1 in Cuneo. The initiative is promoted by Zonta Club Cuneo as part of the “8th March and surroundings” municipal calendar of the Department of Equal Opportunities, in the month of International Women’s Day.
Odifreddi, in a wonderful counter-current women’s fashion show, presents in the book brilliant minds that have reached the highest peaks in all disciplines, carrying forward the path of humanity.
The first is Hypatia, astronomer and eclectic scholar in learned Alexandria between the 4th and 5th centuries, who fell victim to an ante-litteram pogrom. Then come Hildegard, the visionary who sensed the importance of the body (an idea dangerously upstream in the Middle Ages). Madame de Chatelet, companion of Voltaire and Sophie Germain, friend of Gauss, both lovers of science and unconventional women in the Age of Enlightenment.
It is a fashion show that, fortunately, becomes more and more numerous, as time passes, thanks to the gradual fall of sexist stereotypes and obstacles in accessing scientific studies.
With male admiration, Odifreddi reconstructs the paths of life, the difficulties faced, the strokes of genius, the absolute dedication and freedom of thought of figures such as Rita Levi Montalcini and Maryam Mirzakhani (first Fields Medal in pink), Marie Curie and the astronaut Judith Resnik, the unbeatable chess player Judit Polgár and the Chinese pharmacist Tu Youyou, Nobel Prize in Medicine.
