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In his The Secret of Inga, Björn Larsson, referring to an advertisement published by a computer manufacturer, writes: “Science yes, imagination no”, almost immediately correcting this to “Science yes, imagination too”. Scientists and writers have in common the use of their imagination and a scientific working method; one in his experiments, the other in his writing. Two sides of the same coin or completely different worlds? “Using our imagination helps us to understand things that are invisible and helps us to be more human”, underlines Chiara Valerio, while Gabriella Greison describes the human side of science.

Gabriella Greison
was born in Milan, but now lives in Rome. She is a physicist, writer, science lecturer and journalist. She graduated in Nuclear Physics in Milan, and worked for two years at the École Polytechnique in Paris. She taught physics and mathematics to high-school students for several years. Greison has also presented a number of science shows for radio and television, and contributes to several newspapers. She edited Sono un bambino (ma nessuno può sgridarmi), the autobiography of Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini, and has also written a number of books including: Prossima fermata: Highbury (2010), Ora che cominciava a piacermi (2011), Le giacche degli allenatori (2013), La guerra del pallone: storie di vita e di calcio in Palestina (2015), Dove nasce la nuova fisica. Einstein, Hawking e gli altri alla corte di Solvay (2016), L’incredibile cena dei fisici quantistici (2016).

Chiara Valerio
was born in Scauri. She was awarded a Doctorate in mathematics at the Federico II University in Naples, and today lives and works in Rome. Now editor of “Nuovi Argomenti”, she has also written for the theatre and radio, as well as working in Ad alta voce for Rai Radio 3. Chiara also edits the “narrativa.it” series of new Italian writers for publisher Nottetempo. She has published a number of novels and stories, including: A complicare le cose (2003); Ognuno sta solo (2007); Nessuna scuola mi consola and La gioia piccola d’esser quasi salvi (both in 2009), Spiaggia libera tutti (2010), Almanacco del giorno prima (2014) and Storia umana della matematica (2016). She also translated and edited the Italian editions of Virginia Woolf’s Flush (2012) and Freshwater (2013). In October 2016 she was appointed cultural director of “Tempo di libri”, a new book fair held in Milan.