Alberto Piazza, an internationally renowned scientist from Turin, has passed away at the age of eighty-two. Emeritus and former full professor of human genetics at the University of Turin, Piazza has dedicated his career to research and teaching, leaving a significant imprint on the scientific community in the field of genetics and human evolution. With his monumental work completed in 2001 with which he completed the reading of human DNA, he eliminated the concept of the human race from the field of scientific research. After graduating in physics and subsequently in medicine, Piazza embarked on a brilliant academic career. In 2004 he became director of the Department of Genetics, Biology and Biochemistry of the same university, a role he held until 2010. Between 2015 and 2018 he was president of the Academy of Sciences of Turin and president and scientific director of the Human Genetics Foundation (HuGeF-Turin), an institution shared by the University and the Polytechnic of Turin.
“Human races do not exist”
“Human races do not exist”, thus opens the Manifesto against all forms of racism, signed by Alberto Piazza and other scientists including Rita Levi Montalcini, Enrico Alleva, Guido Barbujani, Marcello Buiatti, Laura Dalla Ragione, Elena Gagliasso Luoni, Massimo Livi Bacci, Agostino Pirella, Francesco Remoti, Filippo Tempia, Flavia Zucco. The Turin scientist, in fact, with his studies cleared the field of the concept of ‘human race’, combining the rigor of the data with an attitude as a popularizer. His ability was to make genetics accessible to everyone, using simple language for a very complex subject. “Italian DNA does not exist: we are Italian because we recognize ourselves in a culture, in a history, in a geography, certainly not because we are genetically different from people from other countries”, Piazza had stated. One of the most innovative aspects of the Turin scholar’s work, in fact, was the ability to connect genetics with human history and evolution, integrating studies on genetics with linguistic and cultural analyses. Professor Antonio Amoroso, colleague and friend, underlined how Piazza was not the typical scientist disinterested in the world and confined to a laboratory, but rather an intellectual capable of taking an interest in different disciplines, investigating unprecedented links and connections to better understand humanity. “The most relevant aspect of him is that while the contemporary imagination of a scientist places him in a laboratory while investigating a specific sector, Piazza was the opposite. That is to say, he was able to connect genetics with the history and evolution of man, with his languages and therefore with the languages that are spoken in the world”, he explained during an interview with La Stampa .
see also
France, Bernard Pivot, historic popularizer and presenter, dies
Piazza’s research field
The field of interests of Piazza’s studies was vast and multidisciplinary. The Turin scientist has contributed substantially to studies on human genetics and immunogenetics, developing models and collecting data for the anthropological and evolutionary analysis of peoples. Among his most significant contributions is the in-depth study of biological and cultural evolution, with particular attention to languages. With a vast body of work – 230 publications and three volumes – Piazza has been cited more than two hundred thousand times, a tangible sign of his impact on the global scientific community.
