Imminent Science: What Remains to be Discovered

This is not science fiction. It’s a voyage on the arrow of time to the coming fifty years. The legendary palindromic character Mr. Qfwfq from Italo Calvino’s collection of short stories, The Cosmicomics, will go with us – he who knows all the answers but will give out no hints. He will help us to discover the innovations that will have changed our lives by 2062, when, riding astride Halley’s Comet, our omniscient extraterrestrial will return to visit us.In this book, we shall learn how astronomers will devote themselves to the study of the mysterious force of dark energy, which makes up some three-quarters of the Universe. We shall also delve deeply into the study of our Earth, to exploit the immense thermal energy that lies beneath our feet. We shall solve another enigma in today’s science: the origin of life. We shall come to understand how to develop direct contacts between our brains and the rest of the world. We shall learn about the future of genetics, the reason for the longevity of Methuselah flies and the quest for prime numbers. These are only some of the exciting and important discoveries to be revealed in this intriguing book, which is designed for a broader public and not only for science fiction devotees.

Prof. Giovanni Fabrizio Bignami, born in Desio, Italy in 1944, is one of Europe's leading researchers in astrophysics. He is a former Director of Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements in Toulouse and is currently Head of the Italian Institute for Astrophysics and President of COSPAR, the world-wide Committee on Space Research. He is also President of The National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and has received various awards, including the Rossi Prize of the American Astronomical Society, the Blaise Pascal Medal of the European Academy of Sciences and the von Karman Award of the International Astronautics Academy. He is an Officier de la Légion d’Honneur and a member of the Accademia dei Lincei and the French Académie des Sciences. Professor Bignami is one of the most authoritative scientists in astrophysical and space research and identified the neutron star “Geminga.” He is the author of several previous well-received books.