The men's track pursuit team formed by cyclists Filippo Ganna, Simone Consonni, Francesco Lamon and Jonathan Milan won the gold medal and set a new world record (3: 42.032) at the last second. Italy won with a breathtaking comeback of over half a second behind, as Il Post recounts , “pushed" by Ganna and snatching gold from the reigning champions of the Danish team.
World record and 30th medal won for Italy during these Olympics : an "epic feat for an Olympic title in track pursuit that had been missing for more than 60 years", reports the Gazzetta , which continues underlining the "impetuous" progress made by this group in recent years.
Francesco Lamon nella Galleria del Vento del Politecnico di Milano
AN ITALIAN AND POLITECNICO'S SUCCESS STORY
The company of the C.T. Marco Villa and the Italian team also passed through Politecnico di Milano , and through the Wind Tunnel , the large research laboratory described in MAP 6 on page 40. “To better prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, the quartets of the men's and women's track pursuit came to the Wind Tunnel to optimize performance from an aerodynamic point of view, checking the materials and the position on the saddle. The tests were carried out in close collaboration with the FCI technical commissioners and the sports science institute of CONI ", comments prof. Marco Belloli, professor of the Department of Mechanics who in the video below tells the "behind the scene" of one of the most extraordinary research laboratories in the world, the Wind Tunnel of Politecnico di Milano, of which he is scientific director .
Aerodynamic performance is crucial in sports that are characterized by high speeds because they allow you to gain precious seconds. Over the years, in addition to the Italy Olympic track pursuit, our Galleria del Vento tested champions like Elia Viviani , Olympic Gold in Rio, Alex Zanardi with his handbike, Slovenian ski champion Tina Maze, the Olympic luge champion Armin Zoeggeler and Luna Rossa.
As published on focus.it in this video, within the LaST researchers are studying how to reduce the risk of injury to occupants of a means of transport, from cars to trains and even helicopters .
The activities of the laboratory deal with passive and active safety. Politecnico has been one of the pioneers in the field since the 1960s and the history of LaST begins in those years, as the first academic crash test laboratory in Italy.
Researchers and students gravitating around LaST are involved in evaluating the behavior of structures during an impact, from single component to full-scale vehicles or aircraft, modeling of catastrophic events and the behavior of the human body. For example, energy absorption tests are carried out on objects that are accelerated and then dynamically destroyed to evaluate their behavior during impact; deceleration tests for components that are not directly involved in the impact but that receive the effects, such as car seats; or even bird impact tests, an increasingly serious risk given the growth in air traffic.
This type of research activity Politecnico di Milano also makes use of the collaboration of many companies in the transport sector , for shared projects ranging from design to certification of products that then enter circulation on our roads and in our skies.
As an alumnus in industrial design with a focus on multimedia, Mario Taddeiis one of the first designers in the world to have embarked on the path of virtual reality. “. In 1998 I wrote my thesis on one of the first VR headsets: I wanted to reconstruct the Castello Sforzesco as it was in Leonardo da Vinci's time, but it was still science fiction; the technology wasn't yet ready. The headsets gave people a headache, and the resolution of the images was still disappointing compared to what people expected.”
Twenty years later, the technology has caught up, and Taddei is again one of the first designers in the world to create a virtual reality station in a museum: it is located in Milan's Piazza della Scala, at the Leonardo 3 museum, of which Taddei was curator and co-founder.
"The Forbidden City, as its name suggests, is a place that can only be visited from the outside: the interior is closed to tourists. Virtual reality will allow you to go inside, admire the earthquake-proof Chinese architecture of the year 1000 and its marvellous joints; moreover, with the VR controller, you will be able to touch and handle artefacts that today are absolutely inaccessible. For the first time, visitors can pick them up, rotate them, hold them in front of their eyes, even break them if they want to. The only thing that beats virtual reality is going there in person, and not always either: in VR you can interact with the artefact in ways that would not be possible in real life".
NEW PROFESSIONS FOR VIRTUAL WORLDS
The world of virtual museums, and virtual reality in general, is expanding and opening the door to many completely new professions: designers, programmers, architects, set designers specialised in VR, modelling experts..
The work behind this technology is extremely complex and the devices are not easy to operate for an untrained user: it takes specialised technicians to customise each use. "For now it is only seen in a few museums. But the day is not far off when anyone with a visor will be able to purchase a virtual visit to the Forbidden City,, the Louvre, the Uffizi Gallery or the International Space Station from an online store, without having to queue, and with the opportunity to enjoy experiences that are unimaginable in person. We are very close; a matter of a couple of years at the most.
Virtual art is Taddei's chosen field of study, and he has published the essay“Leonardo da Vinci is dead!”, which has just been published on Amazon. It discusses digital art and NFT, an informative overview of this technology with disruptive potential in the digital art world.
Book – LEONARDO DA VINCI È MORTO – Come fare soldi con gli NFT e arte digitale COVER e retroBook – LEONARDO DA VINCI È MORTO – Come fare soldi con gli NFT e arte digitale Credits: Mario Taddei
"The same issues that faced both Michelangelo and Leonardo on the (absurd and sometimes paradoxical) concept of copyright are even more relevant in the digital world. The book is supposed to make us reflect on the fact that the artists of the past are dead, and it is the contemporary ones that an investor should look to; and, just as our old masters used the best of the technology available to them, so do today's artists".
THE SPOON DOES NOT EXIST... BUT WE NEED IT ANYWAY!
Taddei will be one of the first to explore the new profession of virtual art curator: “My Politecnico studies are useful to me once again, particularly those relating to usability, ergonomics and proprioception. . I cannot send just any user into an environment that he is not used to. Using the example of the virtual museum, how do you move between the different rooms? Do you walk, or teleport yourself by pushing a button? In itself, the virtual environment does not need fixed rules: there is no need for floors, natural light, and physics can be tricked. But our body does need them, otherwise we feel ill, nauseous, dizzy, even panicky. Everything is possible, but not everything is tolerated by our nervous system. To make virtual reality usable for everyone, the rules of the physical world we are used to must be applied. . This also applies to the ability to take trips, have experiences, take virtual lessons remotely, that are indistinguishable from the real experience”.
Taddei is also a digital artist: "The work I am most fond of has a digital character all of its own. It's not like the others... it has been around for 16 years!". Sponge, created in 2004, is a dynamic digital form whose geometric structures change on three planes of symmetry.
"Its original form resides in a fourth (temporal) dimension and manifests itself just as a three-dimensional object would in our 3D space, i.e. it takes on different forms as it crosses its planes of symmetry".
In other words, it lives, according to the artist's intentions, within software. "I am fond of it because it could be considered the oldest living digital art form to date; it has been living in a PC for 16 years. . Even if the power goes off now and then, it comes back to life where I left it. In 2006 it was featured in several art magazines, and in 2013 it was exhibited in various galleries in Italy in both digital and real form, through 3D printing. In 2021, it became an NFT and became part of the Neoart3 Virtual Museum”.
His works are exhibited all over the world: for example, the contemporary art museum Yellow Box Art in Quingdao, China, has dedicated an entire section to him: "I have never been there physically, in person, and this is also one of the many revolutions that digital technology has taught us. I transferred my digital works, my images, 3d models and videos via the internet. The museum printed them and installed them in an exhibition that I curated from the comfort of my workshop in Neoart3, on the other side of the globe.
“Oggi lavoro come architetto curatore di mostre e musei virtuali e collaboro con uno dei grandi galleristi di Milano, Deodato, con il quale stiamo preparando in anteprima mondiale una mostra virtuale che presenteremo ad ottobre e che collegherà arte e tecnica, passato e presente con la tecnologia odierna della realtà virtuale”.
Research and technology to support competitiveness of businesses. This is the focus of the agreement signed by Politecnico di Milano the Regione Lombardia, which focuses on the development of research, innovation and technology transfer as part of the program of interventions for economic recovery. The agreement has three macro-objectives and forsees investments in frontier research and in state-of-the-art infrastructures. Let's learn more about the agreement:
A CRYPTED AND FAST COMMUNICATION NETWORK IN MILAN
The POLIQI - POLItecnico Quantum Infrastructure project, starting from the standard telecommunications optical fibers already installed in the territory, intends to create a quantum communication network, faster and able to transmit data with levels of inviolable security . The network will have possible applications in the financial, administrative, health and intelligence fields. The research will also serve to test new encryption solutions thanks to intrinsically secure quantum keys.
The agreement also provides for a focus on " advanced manufacturing " on two fronts, life sciences and green deal.
Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash
3D PRINTING FOR MEDICINE
Politecnico will adopt one of the first installations on a world scale of a 3D multiphoton bioprinting system for vascularized tissues, first step towards the printing of organic tissues for research in medicine and pharmacology . In recent years, the University has been carrying out various life sciences projects (we have talked about it on several occasions on MAP ), a commitment that has also resulted in the creation of a new Master's Degree course (Medtech, in collaboration with Humanitas) aimed at forming the new professional figure of the doctor-engineer (info here, page 22 ).
Credits: Regione Lombardia
NANOMATERIALS AND HYDROGEN FOR ENERGY TRANSITION
The collaboration also aims at strenghtening research infrastructures for the development of innovative and sustainable materials at the service of the manufacturing sector in order to have innovative solutions for energy storage and the energy transition: at the center of the research there will be prototyping and the testing of innovative electrochemical devices for the conversion and storage of energy , in particular batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. For the design of the nanomaterials that will be used, the Politecnico will equip itself with one of the best equipped X-ray laboratories in Europe .
A CONNECTION BETWEEN RESEARCH AND THE PRODUCTIVE SECTOR
The agreement provides for a total allocation of 4,163,400 euros , of which 1,687,500 euros will be financed by Regione Lombardia and the rest by Politecnico di Milano. "We want to support our universities and promote their needs in order to guarantee an ever greater competitiveness of the territory, also through the experimentation of new technologies", comments the councilor for Education, Research, University, Innovation and Simplification Fabrizio Sala . "These investments - added Sala - are in fact aimed at developing solutions that have a concrete impact and that increasingly link the university world to the productive world".
According to the Rector of the Politecnico di Milano Ferruccio Resta , "Advanced research could be a driving force for the development of Regione Lombardia: thanks to the agreement, the result of constant interaction between institutions, we can provide Milan and the Region of a competitive infrastructure. An advantage not only for the university, a great laboratory of ideas and experimentation, but for the socio-economic development of the territory.
Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with Fondazione Politecnico di Milano and IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, created ARTERY (Autonomous Robotics for Transcatheter dEliveRy sYstems), an H2020 project funded by the European Commission which deals with research in the field of structural heart diseases.
ARTERY's goal is to create a robotic platform that exploits artificial intelligence and augmented reality to implement the non-invasive treatment of heart valve diseases.
HOW DOES ARTERY WORKS?
The ARTERY project aims to develop new guidance and monitoring systems and systems capable of training and supporting operators, making interventions safer and more effective for the patient and eliminating the use of X-rays.
Trained doctors will be able, thanks to the use of virtual reality, to experience cardiovascular interventions in simulation, thus significantly reducing stress and improving the approach to interventions. In this way the doctor does not learn directly on the patient but on the simulator, in safety and eliminating the risks.
Credits: tecnicaospedaliera.it
ARTERY involves the creation of a robotic platform that will simplify percutaneous procedures (i.e. procedures in which diseased structures are repaired or replaced by implanting one or more devices into the heart via a catheter inserted from a small peripheral access) and which will eliminate the use of intra-operative X-rays; the system will also be semi-autonomous and the decisions, which will be guided by artificial intelligence, will always be shared and agreed with the human operator.
"Artery project will introduce two major innovations that will have an important impact on cardiac operations: - says Emiliano Votta, Alumnus and associate professor at the Politecnico di Milano - the remote control of robots through artificial intelligence and augmented reality, and therefore the ability to manage complex operations intuitively and potentially remotely, and the use of sensorized catheters, which will allow more control and precision in the movements of the catheter inside the patient's body. These innovations will make percutaneous heart surgery easier to learn and perform, and safer for patients and practitioners. "
To achieve this ambitious goal, the Politecnico di Milano combines its skills with those of the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital , which provides clinical guidance in the development, of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa, which deals with the sensorization of the system, of the Catholic University of Leuven, which deals with the robotic implementation of catheters and three companies that will contribute to the translatability of the research: FBGS , expert in fiber optic sensors, Artiness , expert in augmented reality applied to the medical world, and Swissvortex , expert in transcatheter technologies.
The analysis of universities, divided between public, private and polytechnic and according to their size, examines various parameters , including the campus structures, the services provided, the number of grants of study in favor of students, the level of internationalization, communication, digital services and employability one year after the qualification.
Censis in its report states that university enrollments in Italy increased by 4.4% in 2020, disproving the forecasts that assumed a drop in enrollments due to the pandemic.
This positive trend is also confirmed at the Politecnico di Milano : those enrolled in the 2021/2022 academic year were 15,413 (5,442 women; 9,971 men), against 12,811 the previous year (4,497 women; 8,314 men). This demonstrates the resilience of the Politecnico di Milano which, in the face of the pandemic emergency, has consolidated and strengthened practices already in place to ensure, despite the social distancing, access to online and offline training activities during the last 18 months.
Regina De Albertis, Alumna of Building Engineering has been voted president of Assimpredil Ance, the Association of Construction and Complementary Companies of Milan, Lodi, Monza and Brianza.
De Albertis, working in the family company Borio Mangiarotti spa, of which is the technical and managing director is the first woman in the role and will be the president for the next four years.
"I chose to accept this challenge, to be at the leadership of the association because this moment, is so crucial for our companies and for the territory, we must work together to shape our future, taking pride in being builders and being at the center of the economic recovery" commented the new president.
Credits Assimpredil Ance Milan Lodi Monza and Brianza
The goal will be to put the territory back at the center of the strategies of the Italian System , because the construction sector is entrusted with the success of the National Recovery Plan: it is a challenge that will lead "the country towards a true renaissance in a sustainable manner, with a pact of trust between generations, between civil and political society, between economics and administrators of public affairs”.
To support the President, there will be a team of Vice-Presidents and a Treasurer also the four coordinators of the Area Councils, who will ensure the Association will oversee the metropolitan area of Milan and the provinces of Lodi and Monza Brianza, to facilitate dialogue between institutions and stakeholders .
"Urban regeneration will guide the green transformation of the country - continues De Albertis - because cities can create a new development model that allows the territory to be transformed by inverting all the parameters of resource consumption, parameters that for centuries have been the basis of growth models. The vision for the future must include the construction of supply chain alliances capable of affirming a new model of relations between the production components, but also between the supply chain and the community. Today, interventions on buildings must generate environmental and social value for future generations”.
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Credits home and header: Il Quotidiano Immobiliare
Cini Boeri graduated in 1951. In 2015 we met her among her works, some older than this writer, to hear about more than 60 years of her career through one of her latest monographic exhibitions: ’Designing joy’. We recall the famous architect travelling with dreamy eyes and irony through her long years and the history of twentieth century architecture and design while answering the questions from alumni:
foto Maria Mulas
AP: Cini, you graduated in 1951 and then opened your studio very early, in 1963. Your career took off among projects, teaching, research, leading to this exhibition, ‘Designing Joy’, a sort of compendium of your professional life.
CB: Yes. I didn't have to wait long after graduation to start working. I only worked with Gio’ Ponti for a year. He was the one who pushed me into the profession. He said: ‘You, with the colours you make, you must become an architect!’ Then I went on alone. I had a secretary and occasionally some interns practicing with me.
AP: During one interview, you said that a good part of your work consists of designing everyday objects, with the goal that they are not owned but rather used. The use of objects and the relationship with space can be a source of joy. What does that mean?
CB: When I design a house for a couple, for example, I always suggest including an extra room. They always ask, ‘Is it for guests?’ No! Not for guests. Because if one of them has a cold one night, for example, they can go to sleep in the other room. One should be able to choose, to know that they can sleep with their partner, but that they can also decide not to, without affecting their life as a couple. I think it would be very educational to teach young people that when they come together as a couple, it is not compulsory to share a bed; it is a choice. It is much nicer that way.
AP: So you think that everyday spaces can be used to educate people about different models of life?
CB: Exactly! Of course.
Soucre: Historic archive Arflex
AP: In what way do you think your work can contribute to educating citizens?
CB: Society matures a bit on its own. Today people are more autonomous and independent. It is an ongoing process. As an architect, I can propose alternative ways of living and using spaces, facilitating an ongoing process of emancipation and promoting freedom of choice wherever possible.
AP: When speaking about your work, the words that often emerge are those of a democratic approach to architecture and design. What does that mean? Who were your intellectual fathers?
CB: It is the Politecnico that accustomed us to this. We were taught very openly … I don't know if it's still like that today!
AP: Can you tell us something about your time at Poli?
CB: Umm … we used to debate a lot! I started the course with mature ideas about independence and mutual responsibility. Even then I thought it was important to focus on individual freedom, and my projects have always tried to concretize this principle. So we debated! Even today, these ideas are unlikely to be accepted as serious proposals. The one about the extra bedroom, for example, is taken as a threat to marriage! But it isn’t. Learning to think for yourself benefits a couple’s well-being; it doesn’t threaten it.
AP: Who did you debate with? The teaching staff?
CB: Not necessarily. The professors were broad-minded. I remember, for example, Renato Camus (I guess he's no longer with us!), always oriented towards modernity, towards new ways of living. But the family model was still very traditional and hierarchical. Freedom was not always considered an acceptable tool.
AP: A tool?
CB: Freedom is a tool, in a broader sense. For example, when a child learns to do something on their own, they acquire both the responsibility of having to do it and the freedom to do it.
AP: You have had and still have many younger collaborators. What has changed in architects over the 60 years of your career?
CB: There is more freedom of action, more choice, and more awareness. This is due to both the general evolution of society and the fact that the profession is better recognised today; it has assumed a cultural and also aesthetic value. In my day, architects were viewed a bit like decorators, not as someone who makes a space functional, and that approach took away our main value — functionality. Functionality is an invitation to experience space in a certain way rather than another. In my case, it implies an invitation to remove dependence, to promote autonomy and reflection. Designing for functionality means designing for joy.
foto Cantina Pieve Vecchia
AP: You have not only designed spaces, though, but also designer items. Once, architecture and design were not two separate disciplines, but these days they are taught in two different schools at the Politecnico. What is the relationship between them?
CB: It is a very close relationship. The underlying reason for a project, whether it is a piece of furniture or a room, is always functionality. The features of the space are tied to its function. The same goes for design. Objects must help us to live in the space, not occupy it.
AP: Still on the subject of the relationship between the various disciplines at the Politecnico, here’s a recent statement by Renzo Piano: ‘During my years at the Politecnico, the idea grew in me that architects and engineers have the same profession.’ It is an invitation to reflect on the things that bind us as Politecnico alumni, rather than those that divide us. What do you think?
CB: [laughs] In some ways it's true! That is, they are not exactly the same thing, but a project cannot be realized without the collaboration of both. They are two very close professions and must work together. They are not the same thing though, because an engineer lacks one thing: a focus on the person’s needs. I mean, if I’m designing an apartment for a family, for example, I go to meet them, I spend time with them, I try to enter their family dynamics.
AP: What supports the relationship between you and your client?
CB: Communication and trust, which must be mutual. What I propose is not always what the client expects. We don't always understand each other immediately. For example, that extra bedroom thing has sometimes made me seem like a ‘marriage killer’ [laughs]. But that’s just not true! As an architect, I must know how to listen to and interpret their needs. The client must learn to trust. It usually works!
AP: Do your clients know what they want when they come to you?
CB: No! They want the best… [laughs], and usually, they want what they have seen. Once they presented me with nineteenth-century-style sofas, all shapes and spirals, today they come with abstract things that are useless. On the other hand, they believe that the architect contributes the novelty as such. Instead, I want to bring benefits to life! So we must listen to each other and meet each other in the middle. In the end, everyone is always very satisfied.
AP: You said in an interview that a project is born, to put it in polytechnic words, out of a process of analysis and synthesis. Could you further explain this to me?
CB: Il momento di analisi è quello dell’ascolto, in cui, come ho spiegato, imparo a conoscere il committente. Il momento di sintesi è quello creativo, che è altrettanto importante. Noi proponiamo il nuovo, che è frutto della creatività, ma non lo proponiamo in modo indiscriminato: deve avere un posto e una funzione chiara nella vita delle persone.
AP: Is it a ‘controlled creativity’?
CB: In a way … For example, if I have to design a chair, I don't just do the first thing that comes to mind. That would be stupid. Instead, I think about how we sit, how the different shapes of the human body can have the right support. The shape of the body determines the internal line of a seat, the starting point of the project. Functionality directs creativity.
AP: What is innovation for you?
CB: It is what brings a project closer to the client, to their needs, which are personal. To avoid repeating the same ideas over and over, the architect must be able to customize the project. They must know the client. And to know them, they must have an easy, direct way of communicating.
AP: So communication is a key factor in innovation?
CB: Exactly.
AP: Why did you choose to become an architect?
CB: Ah, that’s a difficult question! I don't know how to answer. Perhaps the defining moment was during the Resistance, when I met De Finetti in the mountains. At the beginning, he told me that I was a girl and that architecture was a man's profession. But then he would take me on walks, show me houses, ask me what I thought of them. And in the end, he told me that maybe I was serious enough to become an architect. ‘Remember that it is a serious thing,’ he told me, ’not a game.’
Wood house, 1969 (photo Matteo Piazza)
AP: Can you tell me something about the years of the Resistance?
CB: Ah, yes. I gave it my all, with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of good effort. I was young! We started with the most mundane things, like bringing correspondence to the rebels in the mountains. Then things got serious. Eventually we led the partisan troops.
AP: Weren’t you scared?
CB: No, I was very passionate. My youth was determined by anti-fascism, which was fortunately alive in my family and our friends. I was already politicised in a certain sense with a sensitivity to the social context and its manifestations. It was all very clear. Anti-fascism had led us to the struggle, and the struggle to be the authors of a new society. I speak in the plural: I was not alone. I was surrounded by my peers.
AP: Did you know what you had to do?
CB: It was a simple war. We fought in the mountains, we shot, we went down to town to exchange documents, and we went back up. But it wasn't a mass of people, it wasn't an army. It was a way of being and thinking; it was our nature. And so it was natural for us to do that. In turn, the Resistance shaped my character and strengthened the principles passed on by my family.
AP: What did it mean to be partisans?
CB: It was a simple war. We fought in the mountains, we shot, we went down to town to exchange documents, and we went back up. But it wasn't a mass of people, it wasn't an army. It was a way of being and thinking; it was our nature. And so it was natural for us to do that. In turn, the Resistance shaped my character and strengthened the principles passed on by my family.
AP: Those principles which are the basis of your work ...
CB: That's right: autonomy, personal freedom, a democratic approach, responsibility, respect for others in interpersonal relationships … all these values, which have determined my career, come from there. I am happy with my profession, but if I had to choose another, I would be a teacher, even in a primary school. These are values that must be passed on.
AP: One last question and then I'll leave you to your guests. What is the most important lesson that the Politecnico taught you?
CB: Seriousness. Architecture is about building. It is discipline. When I was in the studio with Gio’ Ponti, he scolded me if I neglected details such as tidying up the desk. He said: ‘Architects do not make these kind of mistakes. An architect keeps everything organised, so that it is stable.’
Among the Alumni of the Politecnico, about one in three (29%) is already hired at the date of graduation : in 82% of cases they are employed as employees (94% in the private sector with 52% of permanent contracts and 1,549 euros of average salary upon entering the world of work). 96% are already employed one year after the title (98% Engineering; 93% Architecture; 88% Design). The percentage of employment rises up to 99% five years after graduation (99% Engineering; 97% Architecture; 97% Design), with 90% permanent contracts and an average salary of 2062 euros.
This is certified by the employment survey released by the Politecnico di Milano, conducted on Italian master's degree graduates who obtained their degree in 2015: a total of 4,567. 3,490 responded to the survey. The 2021 employment survey was coordinated by the Career Service of the Politecnico di Milano, which supports and prepares students for entry into the world of work, cultivating contacts with the most important national and international companies.
As for the foreign master's graduates, 82% of them are employed one year after the title , a percentage that rises to 93% after five years from graduation . The percentage of employment is also good for three-year graduates of the Politecnico who decide not to continue their studies: 87% of them are employed one year after graduation, 97% after five years , with an average entry salary of 1,393 euros which rises to 1,830 euros five years after the bachelor's degree.
"We are very happy to note that, despite the legacies of the pandemic, the employment of our graduates is not falling , but rather showing a positive trend. A growth that continues uninterrupted for the Politecnico di Milano and which is confirmed even after five years from the graduation ”, comments Ferruccio Resta, Rector of the Politecnico di Milano . “This is the demonstration of a training capable of re-evaluating itself over time and appreciated by the productive fabric. A necessary recipe for recovery. An investment for the future ".
Fondazione Milano per Expo (FMpE) donated 120.000 euros to Politecnico di Milano, aimed at financing 3 research grants for young female researchers.
The donation is part of the E4WE / Education for Women Empowerment project, in the spirit of what was sown during EXPO 2015 and paving the way for what Women Pavilion will offer at the next EXPO. FMpE and Politecnico di Milano have decided to join the Pavilion schedule, helping to support the importance of an inclusive society, increasingly indispensable for the advantages it entails in terms of innovation, sustainability and economic value . The initiative also aims to give international visibility to this theme and create connections in particular with the Arab world and with Dubai, where the next exhibition will be held.
The donation will support research grants in fields where there is a strong intersection of technologies, design and health sciences : from addressing the impact of Big Data on biomedical research , to measurement models and Artificial Intelligence at the service of health technologies and of the contribution of science and technology in relation to the social responsibility of therapeutic environments. Another area that will affect the call for the allocation of these funds is that of sustainability in the agri-food chain .
These are highly hot research fields with an important social impact , topics in which the Politecnico is investing heavily, leading the way in Italy for new professions in engineering and design, that will become more and more relevant in the coming years.
Credits: Alexis Brown on Unsplash
This initiative is part of the strategic plan of Politecnico di Milano, which carries out various actions aimed at involving young researchers, as outlined in Gender balance: a document that takes an overall picture of our University, showing an updated analysis of the main data relating to the student component, to the teaching staff and to the technical-administrative staff.
With regard to gender balance, the Politecnico is in line with what happens at Italian and European level in technical-scientific universities: one third of the teaching and research staff within the University (29%) is represented by women .
In the book “ALUMNAE, Engineer and Technologies” we have collected the stories of 67 women engineers in our community. The goal? To lay out a set of positive examples for the “STEM” girls of today and tomorrow. .
Read more .
Alumna Annaluigia Meroni, aged 96, was born in 1925 and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1953. The story of her life passes through World War II, her coveted diploma and her degree from the Poli, which she attended immediately after the war. Then came her profession as an engineer, working at patent offices, Siemens and Pirelli, in Italy and the United States, as well as her involvement in the first women’s organisations, oil wells and splitting the atom.
A career in a predominantly male-dominated world, in which the question “should I address you as ‘engineer’ or ‘madam’?” is - in our alumna’s eyes - nothing more than a “ridiculous detail, a relic of the past”, like water off a duck’s back, and in which there is no lack of enterprising. professional women in technology.
We asked her to tell us her story, now that things have changed so much, but there is still a long way to go if we are to achieve true inclusivity in society.
“In February of 1942,,
due to the growing pressure of the countless attacks and bombings, I left Milan to seek shelter in a small village at the source of the River Livenza. I never knew what I was going to do the next day: we took every day as it came. In the schools, the only information available was about the politics in vogue at the time - propaganda about how the war was going, but with the spin they wanted to put on it.
I was quite sure that painting and the sciences were my favourite subjects, and I wanted to complete my studies at the scientific secondary school, at least. So I acquired and brought with me all the books that I would need to do it privately.
I was also lucky enough to meet and spend time with an old Anglo-American lady who had sought refuge along with me to escape the racial laws, allowing me to perfect my English, so much so that it became almost a second language to me.
However, time seemed to stand still, and it was unclear whether or not everything that was happening could ever come to an end. In 1943, the Germans took over the whole of northern Italy. For us young people, this wasn’t living - it was just waiting. And for what? We were isolated: the boys were mostly in the military, or in the mountains. Still no information aside from Radio London - we would huddle around the set every evening, in the room farthest down the mountain and farthest from the road so as not to be discovered by the German patrols.
It was in this environment that in 1944, the time finally came for my long-awaited final school exam, which I passed. As if waking from a lifelong slumber, it was then that I realised that there was life and events beyond that exam, and that I would have to make decisions for my future. My father, a skilled builder, often had to call upon engineers for advice for his work. That was a source of inspiration for me, and as I have always been a fairly hands-on person, I opted to study Civil Engineering, specifically the Construction option. My dad, who had stayed in Milan, enrolled my in the Poli, but of course I couldn’t actually attend until I returned, once the war was over.
Unfortunately, when the war ended I lost my father, and I was faced with the dilemma of whether to give up or continue with my engineering studies. As I’m a fairly tenacious person, I decided to look for work and continue my studies, knowing full well that this would mean it would take a lot longer. A cousin of mine who was an officer in the American army, aware of my level of English, offered me a job organising travel for Americans staying at the Hotel du Nord.
Unfortunately, the schedule meant that I couldn’t get to my Mathematical Analysis lecture in time - which I think started at 2 o’clock - but I didn’t want to miss it. However, other students seemed to arrive late and quietly slip into the room, so I prepared to do the same. That was when I suffered my first trial of discrimination: when I came in, the boys sitting in the amphitheatre made a huge noise, disturbing the professor, who threw me out after it happened on a few occasions. As a result, I left that job so that I could come to the class, but I found work elsewhere as a translator, especially for Agip Mineraria and Eni. After years of sacrifice and compromises, work and study, I finally graduated in 1953.
I immediately found a job in the Automotive Construction department under Prof. Fessia (the inventor of the Fiat 500 car) but, as I still dreamt of being a civil engineer, I requested to work gratis et amore Dei at the firm owned by the engineer Cesa Bianchi (who designed Milan’s first skyscraper), and my application was accepted.
I was assigned to work with a senior engineer on the calculation of a staircase for a building under construction at Via Circo 6, Milan. I found the work fairly boring and not at all in line with my wishes, and as such I enthusiastically accepted an offer from the Racheli & Bossi Patent Office. The two owners, Adele Racheli and Rosita Bossi, were two engineers, also alumnae of the Politecnico: Racheli graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1920 and Bossi in Electrotechnics in 1924 (these two were joined by a third engineer, Ms. Lazzeri, who had worked as a cook in Switzerland during the war to escape racial persecution).
I immediately took to the job as a patent agent, as I was in close contact with countless innovations, and the languages I spoke at the time - French and English - proved useful, whilst I also started learning German. It was here that I was invited to the US by the Department of Labor Women’s Bureau for a period of training and coaching in which I worked on women’s organisations, oil recovery wells and splitting the atom.
As soon as I returned to Italy, I felt the need to improve my financial situation, so I accepted an offer from Siemens to take care of their library and the patents of one of their directors - which were extended worldwide and related to the fission of Samarium 144 - as well as, in the meantime, to start setting up a patent office: something the company did not yet have. I was also allowed to continue running my business as a consultant in the field of Patents, Models and Trademarks at the Court of Milan, which I had already been doing for a few years.
The work was incredibly interesting and dynamic, and allowed me to travel a great deal. My relationship with the colleagues on my level was excellent. Further up the ladder, let’s say, people were not yet ready for women to be engineers. The top management had consulted to ensure that I was referred to as ‘miss’ rather than ‘engineer’, and I remember that one of the many directors that came and went over the years, in response to my request for a pay rise, made no bones about telling me that he would have given it to me if I were a man.
I left Siemens in June of ‘64 to follow my husband to Spain, where I added another language to my repertoire. When I returned to Italy in 1967, I accepted Pirelli’s offer to take over the Cables section of their Patent Office.
At Pirelli, too, I was simply referred to as ‘madam’, as decided in a meeting between the managers held before I even arrived, whilst for the Mechanical section (I believe), they had hired another female engineer who was five years older than me. However, a chemist in charge of the Rubber section was referred to as ‘Doctor’ - an obvious inconsistency, given that engineers also hold the title of ‘Doctor’, as in ‘Dr. Engineer so-and-so’.
Apart from this ridiculous detail, this relic of the past, the work at Pirelli was interesting, especially given that fibre optics were being invented at that time. My relationship with my colleagues/clients (as they are best described) from the Patent Office was excellent, so much so that the company insisted that I stay on board until I was 60, well beyond retirement age, which was 55 for women at the time. I left Pirelli in 1985 with the hope of devoting myself - at least for a little while - to one of the great loves of my youth: painting.
Annaluigia Meroni, Alumna Ing. Civile 1953
In the book “ALUMNAE, Engineer and Technologies” we have collected the stories of 67 engineers in our community. The target? Telling a set of positive examples for the “STEM” girls of today and tomorrow. This book is one of the many initiatives created by Alumni Politecnico di Milano. If you like our activities, you can donate to support them .
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Credits photos: Annaluigia Meroni
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