The Balzan Foundation collects scientific contributions, and dissertations from its prizewinners for periodic publications. The Balzan Papers journal has been digital since 2024, and here, some updates on the research projects of the Balzan prizewinners are also gathered.
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Omar Yaghi
Yaghi gives an overview of his career, showing how the development of reticular chemistry through his work on MOFs extended the chemistry of metal-complexes to infinite 2D and 3D with profound implications on how we view, make, and use materials.
Lorraine Daston
“Yesterday’s scientific truth is today’s scientific error.” Daston’s statement underlies her work as a historian of science, emphasizing the contrast between the philosophical pursuit of eternal reason and the dynamic nature of scientific progress.
Marco Ferrari
Marco Ferrari presents Suzanne Simard’s work on plant societies and the Wood Wide Web in all its complexity, through the scientific debate on the subject, myths that have grown up around it, a comparison of other theories.
Piero Boitani
Ever the comparatist, Piero Boitani reflects on his expansive academic journey, which spans from antiquity and medieval literature in England and Europe, through philology, to 20th-century African American literature in the US and world literature.
Francesco Ranci
In reviewing Balzan Prizewinners’ contributions to the history of science, Ranci highlights Lorraine Daston’s (2024 Balzan Prize, History of Modern and Contemporary Science) call for a collective effort to create and maintain “a new way to talk about science”.
John Braithwaite
Because crime hurts, justice should heal: restorative justice involves all stakeholders in an injustice to listen, discuss, and agree on actions to make things right. Braithwaite, a champion in this field, explains its workings.
