After just 15 months as head of the Italian Space Agency (ASI; see Physics Today, Physics Today 0031-9228 60 5 2007 28 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2743117 May 2007, page 28 ), astrophysicist Giovanni Bignami was sacked in August by the new government of Silvio Berlusconi.
Bignami was selected with the help of a search committee made up of senior scientists—a first for Italy—and his removal suggests that research is not a priority for this government, says Isabella Gioia, an astronomer at Italy’s Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bologna. Scientists “are afraid that scientific research, which is already in a very bad situation, will be even more seriously threatened,” she adds.
Such fears are not helped by the choice of Bignami’s replacement, Enrico Saggese, head of space activities for Finmeccanica, a state company that receives ASI money, who will hold the reins for a year. “It’s a humongous conflict of interest,” Gioia says....
