In the context of their research on the late medieval Italian poet, Dante Alighieri (d. 1321), whose major poem Commedia is recognized as a masterpiece of world literature, Prof. Simon Gilson and Dr Anna Pegoretti recently started a collaboration with Dr Andrea Brunello and his project JPT - Jet Propulsion Theatre. This collaboration aims to produce a bilingual (English/Italian) theatrical work, entitled Dante the Cosmonaut, which will reinterpret Dante’s cosmology in the light of contemporary physics.

This work will address in a creative way a recent, fascinating strand in studies of Dante’s cosmology, that is, the analysis of its relationship with modern Einsteinian physics (mainly proposed by the Romanian physicist Horia-Roman Patapievici in a book published in 2004, Ochii Beatricei. Cum arăta cu adevărat lumea lui Dante?).

In order to boost this project, Dr Andrea Brunello will be at Warwick in January 2016 as an IAS Visiting Fellow. In the context of his visit, he will engage with scholars and students at Warwick in a series of events and workshop, that aim to facilitate the interdisciplinary dialogue between science and the humanities in an innovative, creative way, and to increase impact-capacity building across the University.