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Salk Institute: Art and science
Renato Dulbecco Scientist
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[Q] I would like to ask why did you say that the institute was for science and for art as well, what do you mean by art?

Well, this was him, not me. In fact when, it has to be said that this was a period, the first year after I decided to participate, there was nothing. Then, I went to Glasgow, in Scotland to work in a laboratory there. I spent a year there. When I returned, they already had temporary laboratories that they were called temporary, but this is in 1965 and they are still there now, so... however, they were very useful in principle and we started to work and then, in the meantime, this large reinforced concrete laboratory was built and everyone was saying it's a masterpiece of architecture, and then, when this was built, Salk introduced the art part and I remember art, in fact, general art... I remember that there was some write... Now I don't recall his name, the one that wrote all these novels about fantasy...

[Q] Science fiction?

Yes, science fiction. The first was... oh God, a strange bacteria that... well, very well known, but now I don't remember who he was... the name and he was there for a while, there was a French philosopher, again I can't remember his name, also well known, who was there and then there were also other younger ones who... well, there was a group, so... There was not a lot of interaction among the scientists and this group. I had the opportunity to speak with them once or twice, but in short it wasn't a productive exchange, let's say that, curiosity more than anything. And I think that they were there because they were thinking that something would come out, but out of curiosity more than anything, to see what there was...

[Q] Yes, but perhaps it was also a type of think-tank.

It could have been that. I don't think that it was developed in this direction.

[Q] Think-tank for scientists, perhaps.

Sure, in fact then the scientists, as soon as they arrived there, started to work like before and work was going very well... all these results that I was explaining earlier, that I already explained. And then in fact, then the art part essentially disappeared. At the start there was a painting exhibition within the institute that created a lot of controversy, because... I don't know, some people said that some of the paintings were provocative. One person said, 'There is a nude woman there', and another said, 'That one is masturbating', so... Then there was a painting with the flag of the United States and an individual urinating onto it, so you understand? These were then put to one side and there was a guard that if a young boy wanted to go in, he couldn't, it was restricted to adults, so these were elements that didn't really help the institute to develop. Ultimately the institute became a total science institute, it became one of the largest scientific research centres in the United States, and in the world. And it still is.

[Q] Io vorrei chiedere ma quando hai detto che l'istituto era per la scienza e per l'arte anche, che cosa intendevi per l'arte?

Ma appunto, quello era lui, non ero io. Ma difatti quando, bisogna dire che c'è stato un periodo, il primo anno dopo che io avevo deciso di partecipare, non c'era niente. Allora, io sono andato a Glasgow, in Scozia a lavorare lì nel laboratorio ho passato un anno lì. Quando sono ritornato, avevano già dei laboratori temporanei che si chiamano temporanei, ma questo era il '65 sono ancora la' adesso, perciò comunque, sono stati molto utili in principio e lì ci siamo messi a lavorare e poi, nel frattempo, si è costruito questo grande laboratorio di cemento armato che, tutti dicono, è un capolavoro di architettura, insomma e allora, quando quello è stato costruito, Salk ha fatto venire la parte di arte e mi ricordo arte, insomma, arte generale mi ricordo che c'era qualche scrittore anzi uno scrittore, quello- adesso non mi ricordo il nome quello che ha scritto tutti questi romanzi sopra di fantasia...

[Q] Di fantascienza?

Sì, fantascienza. Il primo era la... oh Dio, un batterio strano che insomma, molto ben noto, ma adesso non mi ricordo chi era il nome e lui è stato lì per parecchio tempo, c'era un filosofo francese, di nuovo non mi ricordo il nome, anche ben noto, che era lì e poi c'erano anche altri più giovani che insomma, c'è stato un gruppo, così... Non c'era molta interazione tra gli scienziati e questo gruppo. Io ho avuto occasione di parlare una o due volte con loro, ma insomma non era uno scambio produttivo, diciamo così, più che altro curiosità. E io penso che loro erano lì perché pensavano che qualcosa venisse fuori, ma più che altro per curiosità, per vedere che cosa c'era...

[Q] Sì, ma forse era anche una sorta di pensatoio.

Poteva esserlo. Non credo che si sia sviluppato in questa direzione.

[Q] Pensatoio per gli scienziati, forse.

Certo, infatti poi gli scienziati, appena sono arrivati lì, si sono messi a lavorare naturalmente come sempre e il lavoro è andato molto bene tutti questi risultati che spiegavo prima, che ho già spiegato, insomma. E poi infatti, poi la parte arte è essenzialmente scomparsa. C'è stata, all'inizio, una mostra di pittura dentro l'istituto, che poi ha suscitato molte polemiche, perché... Non so, c'erano alcuni che dicevano che alcuni dei quadri erano provocatori. Uno diceva, 'C'è quella donna nuda', lì e dice, 'Questo si masturba', perciò... poi c'era un quadro dove c'era la bandiera degli Stati Uniti e un individuo che urinava sopra d'essa, perciò capisci? Questi erano messi poi da parte e c'era una guardia che... se un ragazzo voleva andare, non poteva andare, doveva essere un adulto, insomma tutte cose che non erano molto utili per fare andare avanti l'istituto. Perciò alla fine l'istituto è diventato totalmente un istituto di scienza, è diventato uno dei grandi centri della ricerca scientifica degli Stati Uniti, insomma, e nel mondo, ed è tuttavia.

The Italian biologist Renato Dulbecco (1914-2012) had early success isolating a mutant of the polio virus which was used to create a life-saving vaccine. Later in his career, he initiated the Human Genome Project and was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975 for furthering our understanding of cancer caused by viruses.

Listeners: Paola De Paoli Marchetti

Paola De Paoli Marchetti is a science journalist who graduated with an honours degree in foreign languages and literature from the University Ca’Foscari, Venice. She has been a science journalist since the 1960s and has been on the staff of the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore since 1970. She was elected president of UGIS (Italian Association of Science Journalists) in 1984. She has been a Member of the Board of EUSJA (European Union of Science Journalists’ Associations, Strasbourg), and was its president in 1987-1988 and 1998-2000. In May 2000 she was unanimously elected president emeritus. She was a member of the National Council of Italian Journalists (1992-1998). From 2002 to 2004 she was member of the working group for scientific communication of the National Committee for Biotechnology. She has also been a consultant at the Italian Ministry of Research and Technology and editor-in-chief of the publication MRST, policy of science and technology. She has co-authored many publications in the field of scientific information, including Le biotecnologie in Italia, Le piste della ricerca and Luna vent’anni dopo.

Tags: Salk Institute

Duration: 3 minutes, 50 seconds

Date story recorded: May 2005

Date story went live: 24 January 2008