Rossano Pancaldi

This essay is about Albert Einstein and anti-atomic pacifism. It begins with Albert Einstein's involvement in the construction of the atomic bomb. He then reports his pacifist and humanitarian proposals aimed at public opinion, scientists, the military and politicians to prevent nuclear tests and the construction of even more powerful atomic bombs. The essay deals with the ethical affinities between Einstein and other scientists, their common pacifist initiatives and their commitment to denounce the dangers of atomic weapons for humanity. It reports some anti-atomic bomb appeals and some publications for and against, and ends with the latest international initiatives undertaken by pacifist scientists to stop the experiments and construction of these weapons of mass extermination and destruction of all forms of life.

Cesare Battisti in Bologna (by Rossano Pancaldi) - On the 12th July 1916 in the Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento, Cesare Battisti was condemned to death by the Austrians because he was found guilty of fighting with their enemy, the Italians. With this essay, we remember a militant man, proud and valiant, involved in politics, in the culture and education of the Trento society. We remember his civilian purposes, his patriotic ideals in favor of Trento and Italy, expressed in a particular way at a conference in Bologna on the eve of the First World War.

MALARIA, SCIENCE AND SOCIETY IN FERRARA FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY -/- In this paper it is outlined the history of malaria in Ferrara and its suburbs, from ancient times up to the nineteenth century. It is considered the issue of malaria in Roman times, during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the discovery of quinine, the first scientific studies made at the University of Ferrara, the first analysis about the causes and the spread of the disease. The conditions of backwardness of Ferrara society are considered, especially of the people living in the countryside, and the most common medical knowledge. Statistics about the spread of malaria after the unification of Italy are resumed. Problems of environmental recovery are taken into account. Scientific progresses due to positivism and to the doctors who faced the first anti-malarial campaigns, bringing their testimonies. The essay ends up with the reorganization of public health and places of health care in modern hospitals all over the province of Ferrara.

Nel 2009 e 2010 si celebrano i 200 anni dalle rivolte dei tirolesi contro i francesi e i bavaresi e si commemora la morte del maggiore protagonista di quegli eventi, Andreas Hofer. In Italia diverse autorità politiche e culturali ricordano quegli episodi storici, le azioni di Hofer e il destino del Tirolo. Con questo saggio si cerca di evidenziare i tratti storici e politici salienti di questo personaggio e i suoi propositi verso il Tirolo, confrontati con quelli di Giuseppe Mazzini. È una occasione per riflettere sui problemi ancora aperti nel Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol e sulla storia di questa importante regione in prossimità delle celebrazioni dell'Unità nazionale.

While remembering the humanity and vast culture of Federigo Enriques (founder of "Periodico di Matematiche" and one of the most important mathematicians and cultured men of our century), we would like to point out his formative, ethical, civil and professional model for teachers. We will emphasize the qualities and the essential values of teacher training and the formative, democratic and liberal meaning of science and of its history. Moreover, we will point out the importance of the knowledge of the mental process in training, the pedagogical value of error and of non-sense for the mental training of the teacher and the pedagogical, "platonic" qualities of the teacher as expressed by Enriques, and his criticism of the Gentile school system and his innovative school proposals before his bitter defeat.

MALARIA, SCIENCE AND SOCIETY IN FERRARA FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY -/- In this paper it is outlined the history of malaria in Ferrara and its suburbs, from ancient times up to the nineteenth century. It is considered the issue of malaria in Roman times, during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the discovery of quinine, the first scientific studies made at the University of Ferrara, the first analysis about the causes and the spread of the disease. The conditions of backwardness of Ferrara society are considered, especially of the people living in the countryside, and the most common medical knowledge. Statistics about the spread of malaria after the unification of Italy are resumed. Problems of environmental recovery are taken into account. Scientific progresses due to positivism and to the doctors who faced the first anti-malarial campaigns, bringing their testimonies. The essay ends up with the reorganization of public health and places of health care in modern hospitals all over the province of Ferrara.

In 1924 the Fascist University was founded in Bologna. This essay reconstructs the foundation of this study centre, its cultural purposes and contacts with the academic world Giovanni Gentile had frequent relations with this cultural centre. On March 9th, 1930 he participated in a crowded lecture making a speech that was to remain unknown. It is published here and analyzed in relation to his complete works and the reactions aroused in Bologna and in the national cultural environments. The essay ends with the circumstances that led to the closing of the Fascist University in 1933 and the consequences they caused.

Mazzini and Hungary: thoughts, actions and freedom (by Rossano Pancaldi, Italy) - Giuseppe Mazzini’s political thinking is still very modern. It comes from a political pedagogy founded on basic values such as freedom, democracy and civil coexistence which give birth to great passions. This is to be confirmed by Mazzini’s patriotic aspirations, revolutionary initiatives in favour of Hungarian people and his tights against any dispotism. So Mazzini can be paralleled to Hungarian revolutionaries, who fried to overthrow the Soviet dictatorship in 1956, hile trying to conquer their freedom, democracy and national independence. Mazzini was not in Budapest in that very 1956 but surely his political passion and civil ambition were!