Rocco Gaudenzi

After a High School degree in Classics (It. Liceo Classico), I earned a Bachelor degree in Physics at the University of Roma Tre, discussing from the physics and philosophical standpoint the role of the electromagnetic potentials in quantum theory; and then a Master degree at the ETH Zurich with a Master-arbeit on the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect in two-dimensional electron systems. I then moved to the Technical University of Delft (TU Delft, NL) to investigate quantum transport mechanisms in nanostructures, focusing in particular on those phenomena involving quantum magnetism, superconductivity, and thermodynamics of information. After the PhD, fulfilling my original desire to go past the research in science in favour of the enquiry on its historical-epistemological dimension and conceptual dynamics, I was awarded a two-year Rubicon grant (the Dutch Marie Curie fellowship) to pursue research at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin, DE). Here I am currently investigating the conceptual connections established in the last century between condensed matter and elementary particle physics, paying particular attention to the methods and heuristic thought processes entailed in the crossdisciplinary knowledge transfer, and focusing on the role played in it by analogical and metaphorical thinking. This research is currently being put together as a monograph, and has resulted, among others, into the university course "What’s in an analogy? A journey from the sciences to the humanities and back," directed to science as well as humanities students. Alongside research, I devote myself to teaching and dissemination, experimenting there with various formats including theater and broad audience lectures and annually co-organize an event that strives to integrate the scientific discourses with reflections on humanities and society.