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Some Notes On The Utility Function Of Fundamental Science Experiments

Earlier this year I mentioned here that I would be writing an article on how the utility function...

Understanding Expected Limits, Observed Limits, Exclusion Regions In Particle Physics Graphs

I recently got engaged in a conversation with a famous retired mathematician / cosmologist about...

Establishing Benchmarks For Use Of AI In Fundamental Science: Two Proposals To Move Forward

These days I am in the middle of a collaborative effort to write a roadmap for the organization...

Optimization In Valencia

Last week I was in Valencia, to attend the fourth MODE Workshop on Differentiable Programming for...

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Tommaso DorigoRSS Feed of this column.

Tommaso Dorigo is an experimental particle physicist, who works for the INFN at the University of Padova, and collaborates with the CMS and the SWGO experiments. He is the president of the Read More »

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Researchers To Boycott Recruitment System

Researchers To Boycott Recruitment System

Jun 25 2009 | comment(s)

In a few days italian post-docs working in high-energy physics will be asked to gather for a nasty exam, held by the INFN -the italian institute for nuclear physics- to qualify valiant researchers for future hiring in the institute.

The exam generated a wave of outrage among the very pool of people at which it is aimed: the scores of "precari" (temporary workers) who are spending the best years of their life to try and make a career in particle physics.  Let me explain why that is so.
Rocco for President!

Rocco for President!

Jun 24 2009 | comment(s)

After weeks of painful struggling against all evidence, I think I will finally have to accept the fact that Italians actually approve their Prime Minister's behavior and libertine sex habits: the final proof be that they still voted for his lackeys at the last round of administrative elections. However, being a male in a male chauvinist country, I feel I am not very well represented by Berlusconi in this regard. Please consider:





  • he is almost 73 years old;




  • he is constantly afflicted by neck pain, which for sure must prevent him from anything but the most basic reproductory capabilities;




  • he fought a prostate cancer, which certainly took a hit in his sexual performances;
The Say of the Week - on Consistency and Integrity

The Say of the Week - on Consistency and Integrity

Jun 24 2009 | comment(s)

Augusto Minzolini (right), director of the TG1 news program of Rai 1, the most followed public italian TV channel, is under siege in Italy, accused of hiding the news of the embarassing story of Berlusconi and the call girl Patrizia D'Addario and the surrounding affair, which continued to make headlines on World press, but was utterly absent from Rai 1 TV news for over a week.
The Sex Life of an Improbable Prime Minister

The Sex Life of an Improbable Prime Minister

Jun 23 2009 | comment(s)

If you live outside Italy, you read newspapers more often than Italians do. Thus, you probably are more informed about the recent scandal emerging on the private life of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's Prime Minister, than Italians. That is because the news of Berlusconi's private parties with scores of young women, paid or otherwise compensated to cheer up the leader, have never made it to italian television!
The Incredibly Shrinking Supersymmetry

The Incredibly Shrinking Supersymmetry

Jun 22 2009 | comment(s)

Prologue
The Say of the Week

The Say of the Week

Jun 18 2009 | comment(s)

Stimulated by Michael White  (who just posted his Morning Science Quote,  "Light is the principal means by which we are able to transmit and receive information from objects around us and throughout the universe"), here is my answer, this week's Say of the Week :
"The reason why some people appear bright until you hear them speak is that light travels faster than sound".