Milan celebrates Margherita Hack with a statue dedicated to her. The initiative, supported by the Municipality, is conceived and promoted by Deloitte Foundation together with House of Artists. The monument will be inaugurated in the spring of 2022, the centenary of the scientist's birth.
A pioneer and a symbol of redemption
Margherita Hack was an extraordinary woman, who through studies and research, has offered a very important contribution to the international scientific community. Deloitte Foundation, after a scrupulous evaluation, decided to dedicate a statue to Hack. A fair tribute to the astrophysics, academic and science popularizer who died in 2013. "After a careful analysis to identify the most suitable profile, the 'Lady of the stars' Margherita Hack was chosen - explains Deloitte Foundation - as a pioneer in her own field, a symbol of redemption capable of inspiring entire generations and, at the same time, a bearer of universal values and a free thinker even outside the field of STEM subjects ".
A journey that began in 2019
The process for the installation of the first statue dedicated to Margherita Hack in Milan began in 2019. In fact, in that year, the City Council approved a motion proposed by the Pd councilor and president of the Social Policy Commission Angelica Vasily. With it, the titling in the city of statues with female figures was asked. "I'm sure this is just the beginning of a long series of positive actions", said the city councilor. Vasile then underlined: "A more just and equitable society also passes from the recognition of the great contribution of women to science, art, history, literature, and also to the conquest of democracy in our country".
"The first of a long series"
Margherita Hack (Florence 12 June 1922 - Trieste 29 June 2013) will therefore be the first woman to be represented in a statue in Milan. The first of a path begun to reduce an unacceptable gap that in the Lombard capital has seen, up to now, only male sculptures present on public land: 211.
"I am particularly grateful to the Deloitte Foundation for sharing this important path with the Municipality of Milan", admitted the councilor Vasile -. For Paul Gibello, president of the Deloitte Foundation, “The first sculpture on public land in Milan, in the name of a female figure of extraordinary importance, represents a goal, but at the same time also a starting point. With the hope that it will be the first of a long series of works destined to finally fill a gap in relation to women, STEM in particular, rarely or almost never represented in monuments of this kind. Not only in Milan, but also in Italy as well as throughout the world ".
A life dedicated to studying the stars
Margherita Hack has made science her reason for living. In addition to being a great scholar, she was a woman free from any social and religious conditioning. He directed the Astronomical Observatory of Merate, then that of Trieste, and also in the same city, the Department of Astronomy of the University. She was a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, the International Astronomical Union, the Royal Society and the Italian Physical Society.
He received the title of Knight of the Grand Cross, la gold medal to the meritorious of science and culture, the civic merit of the Municipality of Trieste, the Culture Award of the Presidency of the Council. He has taught astronomy and collaborated with several universities. Berkeley (California), Institute for Advanced Study of Princeton (New Jersey), Institut d'Astrophysique of Paris (France), Observatories of Utrecht and Groningen (Netherlands), the University of Mexico City, to name a few. He has spent his life discovering, learning about and studying the stars. His sentence "We are all made of the same stuff as the stars" it has remained in the history and in the memory of all.
(Photo Margherita Hack Facebook Page)
