Mathematics, physics, and technology
Salomon (2025 Balzan Prize) devised an experiment to place atomic clocks aboard the International Space Station and measure how time in orbit flows differently from time on Earth, testing Einstein’s prediction that our planet’s gravity slows the passage of time.
Philosophy and Letters
Luca Sciortino
Do literary works articulate visions of the world? How do new contexts of reception reshape these visions? For Damrosch, works of world literature are continually reshaped across different historical and cultural contexts, generating new meanings and functions.
Natural sciences
Marco Ferrari
Evolution is facilitated variation: genomes reuse past solutions to generate new traits more efficiently. Convergence and physics may impose regular patterns, but (re)writing the genetic heritage of life remains a unique, never fully predictable task.
Philosophy and Letters
In his account of the open discussions at the 2025 Balzan Prizewinners Interdisciplinary Forum, Francesco Ranci reflects on the comments of two Prizewinners, Carl H. June and Christophe Salomon, on AI and the role of serendipity in breakthrough discoveries.
Natural sciences
Johannes Oerlemans
Oerlemans has been measuring glaciers since 1950. Here, he examines the complexities of developing models of climate change, concluding that precaution and respect for nature are key in attempting to predict changes and consequently take action.
Mathematics, physics, and technology
Technology to remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere is now available. Senne Starckx describes two methods in use, direct air capture (DAC) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), the latter earning Omar Yaghi the 2024 Balzan Prize and a share of the 2025 Nobel Prize.
Philosophy and Letters
David Damrosch
Considering literary ecology as an ecosystem that has evolved over two centuries, Damrosch examines its connection with ecology and evolutionary theory, going back to the origins of the disciplines of comparative philology and comparative literature.
History
Marco Ferrari
How many species of humans were there in prehistoric times? In tackling this question, Ferrari presents theories of human evolution, showing that we, Homo sapiens, are unique and alone – the last survivors of an evolutionary “bush” that once had a wealth of species.
Philosophy and Letters
Francesco Ranci
Can democratic societies resist authoritarian opposition without becoming authoritarian themselves? Ranci revisits Plato’s account of Socrates’ death against the backdrop of Athenian democracy and wonders about democracy’s fate in today’s globalized world.
Mathematics, physics, and technology
Senne Starckx
The momentous detection of gravitational waves (ripples in spacetime caused when two black holes merge) by laser interferometers and the subsequent finds of second-generation detectors have paved the way for the proposed third-generation Einstein Telescope.
Natural sciences
Marco Ferrari
Marco Ferrari presents Suzanne Simard’s work on plant societies and the Wood Wide Web in all its complexity, through the scientific debate on the subject, myths that have grown up around it, a comparison of other theories.
History of sciences and ideas
Francesco Ranci
In reviewing Balzan Prizewinners’ contributions to the history of science, Ranci highlights Lorraine Daston’s (2024 Balzan Prize, History of Modern and Contemporary Science) call for a collective effort to create and maintain “a new way to talk about science”.