SISSA mourns the passing of Edoardo Boncinelli, eminent geneticist, passionate science communicator and former Director of the School from 2001 to 2004. Boncinelli passed away yesterday in Milan at the age of 84.
Born in Rodi and graduated in physics in Florence, he later turned his scientific interests to biology, making major contributions to the study of homeotic (homeobox) genes, which play a crucial role in controlling embryonic development. His career spanned leading research institutions, including the Institute of Genetics and Biophysics of the CNR in Naples, and the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, where he directed the molecular biology laboratory and later the Centre for the Study of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology of the CNR. He also taught Biological Foundations of Knowledge (Fondamenti biologici della conoscenza) at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan, and in 2016 he received an honorary master’s degree in philosophical sciences from the University of Palermo. From the 1990s, his research interests expanded to neuroscience.
A prolific author and columnist for several newspapers, Boncinelli combined his passion for philosophy, Greek culture and science, leaving behind a remarkable cultural and intellectual legacy that brought together rigour, curiosity and humanism.
His time at SISSA is remembered by two of Boncinelli’s colleagues, physicists Erio Tosatti and Stefano Fantoni.
Here is the testimony of Professor Erio Tosatti:
"At the end of Daniele Amati’s term as Director of SISSA, the search for a possible successor began. The choice turned toward the life sciences, a field that was gaining increasing importance within the School. Finding the right candidate was not easy. At a certain point, however, the proposal was made to Edoardo Boncinelli, a prominent scientist and high-profile geneticist, who accepted.
Dado Boncinelli was a wonderful man, science communicator, and colleague—full of wit, imagination, and communicative as well as scientific talent. A true personal friend to me and to many of us.
His time at SISSA lasted only three years. After returning to Milan—which, in truth, he had never truly left—he continued to write articles for newspapers and science books prolifically, even in recent years, always lovingly supported by his wife Angela and in constant dialogue with Umberto Bottazzini, mathematician, science communicator, and his great friend."
Here is the remembrance from Professor Stefano Fantoni:
"The passing of Dado—as he liked to be called—feels almost paradoxical to anyone who had the privilege of spending even a few hours with him. His extraordinary passion for life, for knowledge, and for creativity was both overwhelming and infectious. Curiosity was his fuel, powering a long and intense scientific journey that began in his beloved Tuscany, reached Trieste, and passed through many other laboratories and universities around the world.
One day, I asked him, ‘Why did you decide to become a geneticist after graduating in Physics?’ He replied, ‘I don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter—maybe because, after many discussions with my mentor Toraldo di Francia, I thought studying humans was more important than studying the universe.’
It was 2001 when Daniele Amati, the father of SISSA, nearing retirement, decided to set up a committee to identify potential candidates to succeed him. A difficult task. How do you succeed Daniele Amati? And yet, we did. Dado was considered not just a possible candidate—but the candidate.
We were convinced by his dual nature as both scientist and humanist, perhaps a result of his many discussions with Toraldo. His extensive experience as a geneticist and the outstanding results achieved by his team at the Genetics and Biophysics Laboratory of the Naples branch of the CNR—especially the discovery of the so-called architect genes, a Nobel-worthy discovery that he never received but certainly deserved—made him a strong choice to support the growth of the young Neuroscience sector at SISSA. Amati had established it and initially nurtured it within the Interdisciplinary Laboratory I directed.
Equally important was his contribution to scientific communication. A refined form of popularization, infused with art and philosophy, following the Mediterranean model of science communication promoted in the SISSA Master’s program by Franco Prattico and Pietro Greco—very different from the top-down Anglo-Saxon model.
The SISSA Assembly unanimously followed the committee’s recommendation, and Dado became Director after Daniele. He was loaned from the San Raffaele Institute in Milan, where he headed the Molecular Biology Laboratory, with the blessing of Don Luigi Verzè. He moved to Trieste with his wife, family, and dog, settling in a beautiful villa just outside the city, where he hosted parties filled with pranks and irony—in short, true ‘toscanate’.
For Dado, writing books soon took precedence over research. He wrote constantly, especially at night. Once, when I told him it was a pity he dedicated so little time to research, given that he held in his hands such a jewel as SISSA and its Neuroscience sector, he bluntly replied that research had brought him far fewer satisfactions than he had expected.
Over time, leading SISSA became constraining and burdensome for him. Even the proposal of forming a support team to assist him in the role did not help. He was not one for compromises, and he stepped down after his first term.
And yet, Dado firmly believed that dissatisfaction is the driving force behind the cognitive and cultural evolution of the Homo sapiens species—as he would later write in his book L’animale inquieto ("The Restless Animal").
What he gave us in those three years was truly immense.
Farewell, dear friend Dado, you were a great man. We will not forget you."
SISSA extends its deepest condolences to his family and to all those who were close to him.