ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The Entanglement of Physics and Informatics in Bologna from 1950s to 1980s

• In Event: Developments in the History of Particle Physics

English Abstract

Knorr-Cetina has defined epistemic cultures as a way of magnifying the space of knowledge and expert systems (1999). This presentation starts from that concept to examine the relationship between physics and informatics in Bologna from 1950s to 1980s. Some physicists saw and participated to the emergence of informatics and the growing need for data processing to advance their scientific work. I’ll use the micro-spatial history framework (DeVito, 2019) to address how a specific area (Bologna) both contributed to and was shaped by broader transformations in which computation intertwined with physics. In following Knorr-Cetina, I critically examine the connections and divisions of these nowadays two distinct disciplines.
Bologna was a prolific territory for computation in Italy, especially thanks to Giampietro Puppi, director of the Physics Department of the University of Bologna in the 1950s. As a physicist strongly committed to promoting the scientific advancement of its department, Puppi recognized that computational capability was a critical factor. From this starting point, I trace the trajectory leading to the establishment of the Degree Course in Informatics at the University of Bologna in the 1980s, created significantly under the Physics Department.
This presentation investigates the epistemic changes in physics occurred with the evolution of computing technologies, drawing on historical sources (primarily from the University of Bologna historical archives). In dialogue with the conference theme, “Shifting perspective”, it examines how an informatics community – with its own emerging identity – arose from some needs, practices, and institutional contexts of physicists in the pre-personal computer era.

Author

• Lara Marziali, Politecnico di Milano