Gianni Fochi
Hello! I was born in Pisa in 1950 and
I've got a laurea degree in chemistry in 1973. The Scuola Normale
Superiore, i. e. the institution where I've worked as a research
associate, decreed my perfezionamento (PhD) in chemistry in 1981. Among
the courses it offers, I have held a series of seminars for freshmen on the
chemical applications of thermodynamics; in addition, I have taught general and
inorganic chemistry at Pisa university (curricula for the agronomical courses).
I wrote a highschool
textbook ("La chimica ragionata", i. e. "Explained
chemistry", Istituto Geografico De Agostini, 1990) and I'm a coauthor of
the booklet "Primi passi in termodinamica" (i. e. "First
steps into Thermodynamics", Casa Editrice Ambrosiana, 1990), for any type
of university students who come across chemistry during the first curricular
year. For them I wrote a
textbook for freshmen, published by Edizioni della Normale.
I've carried out experimental research
in eterogeneous working environments: at the department
of chemistry and industrial chemistry of Pisa university, at the
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule of Zurich (E.T.H.) and at The "G.
Donegani" Institute in Novara (Piedmont). The latter was part of the
Montedison group, when I was there (1976-1981). I've also been a member of the
scientific board of ANPA (the Italian agency for protecting the environment)
during the last thirteen months of its existence (Sept. 2001 - Oct. 2002).
Since 1988 my interests have extended to
the popularization of chemistry in its various aspects (culture, applications,
history, environment), as a freelance coworker of newspapers and magazines: for
this activity, in 1992 I was awarded a Federchimica (Italian association of chemical
industry) prize "For an intelligent future". On June 5th 2001 I've
been awarded a Voltolino prize for science popolularization. I'm also a
lecturer for the general public and study the problems of scientific
journalism. With regards to the latter field, I think it's worth mentioning my
successful participation in the third edition of Pirelli INTERNETional
Award, as well as a regular column ("Errare humanum est..."), which
I've been writing for over ten years for La Chimica e l'Industria, the
official monthly magazine of Società Chimica Italiana (S.C.I.). In such a
column I pointed out the chemical blunders of the Italian media, which the
readers of the magazine had discovered and communicated to me. On mid '99, the
column was renamed "Specchio deformante" (deforming mirror)
and included also media reports where chemistry, right or wrong, was put in a
bad light.
Moreover, I've been one of the judges for
the Italian section of the Ford motor company conservation and environmental
grants.
This double faced activity in
research and popularization afforded me some job opportunities, where
understanding technical and scientific matter, as well as rendering it suitable
for laymen was necessary: collaboration with ENEA (the Italian organism for
energy, technological innovation and environment) and, for the translation of a
German magazine into Italian for image promotion, with Hoechst.
In addition, I was the chairman of
workshops on chlorine (Assobase) and on how to get rid of urban waste (Alba and
Bra, Piedmont).
I've been a freelance member of the
Italian Journalists Board since 1990 and, since a few years later, of U.G.I.S. (Union of Italian Science Journalists),
and so also of E.U.S.J.A.
(European Union of Science Journalists Association). In 1998 I started my
collaboration to The Alchemist webzine. On January 1999 the first issue
of The European Chemist (edited in U.K. on behalf of the Royal Society
of Chemistry and the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker) has been published,
containing an article of mine on the bonds between the Pisan chemical
department and the industrial world.
At the end of September 1999 the first of
my books for laymen has been released within a successful series of Longanesi
publishing company ("La lente di Galileo"). This book reached its
third edition and is still on sale within the low cost editions of TEA, after
beeing issued also in Spanish Version by RobinBook (Barcelona).
In 2010 Longanesi published a new book of
mine : "Fischi per fiaschi nell'italiano scientifico" (i. e.,
"Mistakes in scientific Italian"), a short dictionary of terms, which
belong to both scientific and colloquial Italian, but conflicting in their
meaning. A new book of mine, "La chimica fa bene" (i.e.,
chemistry is beneficial) is on sale since October 10th, 2012 (publisher:
Giunti). Some parts therein popularize science, but my own ideas can also be
found in its pages: shortly, I think that the image of chemistry is altered by
both irrational environmentalists and certain chemists.
Since
September 2011, I have occasionally took part to a feature of RAI UNO TV,
"UNO Mattina", with a collaboration contract.
Last update: January 26th, 2015.
