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Visible Scientists, Media Coverage and National Identity: Nobel Laureates in the Italian Daily Press

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Science Communication in the World

Abstract

This chapter analyzes media coverage of the Nobel Prizes, focusing especially on the coverage in the Italian daily press of the Nobel Prize for physics received by Guglielmo Marconi in 1909. It thus offers an opportunity to explore general features and trends in the coverage of science by the press, as well as its treatment of Nobel Prizes in the sciences. Media treatment of Marconi’s Nobel Prize highlights two key elements of science coverage in the Italian daily press: the media’s dependence on highly prominent individuals, and the connection between science and broader social, political and cultural frames. A ‘national identity and pride’ frame, in particular, often emerges in media stories about Nobel laureates in the early twentieth century.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a discussion of mediatization of science (that is, the increasing orientation of science institutions and dynamics to the operational logic and criteria of mass media), see Weingart (2001) and Peters et al. (2008). For a brief introduction to the ‘visible scientists’ theme, see Bucchi (2010).

  2. 2.

    See also Geison (1995) and Cadeddu (1987).

  3. 3.

    For a description and analysis of long-term trends in postwar Italy, with a strong emphasis on international comparison, see Bucchi and Mazzolini (2003).

  4. 4.

    See Caprara (2009).

  5. 5.

    Editorial, Il Corriere della Sera, 8–9 April 1877, p. 1, cited in Caprara (2009).

  6. 6.

    For more details, see Bucchi and Mazzolini (2003).

  7. 7.

    This active role of scientists as commentators appears to characterize Italian daily press coverage; see Bucchi and Mazzolini (2003).

  8. 8.

    This trend should obviously be read in the context of more structural transformations of the newspaper, which grew in size and developed new sections during the century; see Bucchi and Mazzolini (2003).

  9. 9.

    See, for example, Latour (1991), Bucchi (2006, 2009), Bucchi and Mazzolini (2003) and Bader (1990).

  10. 10.

    Il telegrafo senza fili, Il Corriere della Sera, 4–5 July 1897.

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Acknowledgements

Research on media coverage of the Nobel Prizes in the sciences started within the context of a grant by the Italian Ministry of Research, under the direction of Renato G. Mazzolini. I would like to acknowledge the kind support of the Italian Culture Institute in Stockholm through the C.M. Lerici Programme. I am also grateful to Karl Grandin and the Center for History of Science at the Royal Academy of Sciences, as well as the staff at the Nobel Museum, for their help and assistance during my research in Stockholm; the Nobel Foundation for allowing access to its media archive; Kajsa Eriksson and the Swedish Research Council for inviting me to present aspects of this research; and Piero Mazzinghi and Giuseppe Pelosi. Lorenzo Beltrame, Alessia Bertagnolli, Carlo Borsatto, Silvia Giovanetti and Federico Neresini participated in data collection and analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science and Technology in Society Programme, Università di Trento, Trento, Italy

    Massimiano Bucchi

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  1. Massimiano Bucchi
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Correspondence to Massimiano Bucchi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Communication, École des Médias, Université du Québec à Montréal, rue Sainte-Catherine Est 405, Montreal, H3C 3P8, Québec, Canada

    Bernard Schiele

  2. , Office of the Director General, ITER, Route de Vinon sur Verdon, St Paul Les Durance, 13115, France

    Michel Claessens

  3. Science Popularization (CRISP), China Research Institute for, Xueyuan Nanlu 86, Beijing, 100081, China, People's Republic

    Shunke Shi

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Bucchi, M. (2012). Visible Scientists, Media Coverage and National Identity: Nobel Laureates in the Italian Daily Press. In: Schiele, B., Claessens, M., Shi, S. (eds) Science Communication in the World. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4279-6_17

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