Giorgio Parisi Quotes

As quoted in Laura Martellini, The Nobel Prize winner Giorgio Parisi and feminicides: «The mathematics of the fifth century Hypatia victim of a patriarchal mentality that still survives today" (28 November 2023)

The existence of God cannot be used as any scientific hypothesis: it is something different that transcends science. [...] I would be a terrible theologian if I tried to do an experiment to prove the existence of God, and a terrible scientist if I tried to explain my experimental data by hypothesizing the existence of God. [...] I'm always annoyed when people ask me about my religious opinions in interviews. I don't think they ever ask that of footballers, singers, models, categories for which I have the utmost respect. Interviewers implicitly assume that scientists possess privileged knowledge of God, but this is not true.

The story of Hypatia has greatly affected the collective imagination, even outside the circle of experts. She is a scientist who is killed also because a woman who was not in her place, had a public life, spoke in public and took public positions. We must never be sure that the development of science is unstoppable. Blindly trusting in the inevitability of the need that technological development has for scientific development can be a tragic mistake. The Romans preserved Greek technology without much concern for Greek science, and the Christian fanatics led by Bishop Cyril of Alexandria calmly tore Hypatia to pieces without caring at all about the long-term consequences, rather rejoicing in the disappearance of profane knowledge considered useless, if not harmful.