Fabiola Gianotti

"Interviewer: Are you looking for God? Gianotti: No. I don’t think physics will ever be able to answer that question. Science and religion are separate disciplines, though not mutually exclusive. You can be a physicist and have faith, or you may not. It’s best for God and science to keep a healthy distance. Interviewer: But you’ve called the Higgs bison "the God particle". Gianotti: No scientist has ever dared to describe it in such terms. We owe this to the publisher of the book written by Nobel laureate Leon Lederman. He wanted to cloak the work in a literary veil that would certainly make an impact. Lederman had suggested another title, *The Damned Particle*, because it had driven us to despair; we had been searching for it for decades. It is undoubtedly a special particle, but to liken it to God is nonsense."

"Si, io credo in Dio. Non ci sono contraddizioni tra scienza e fede, l’importante è lasciare i due piani separati: essere credenti o non credenti, non è la fisica che ci darà una risposta. La scienza si basa sulla dimostrazione sperimentale e la religione si basa su principi completamente opposti, cioè sulla fede, tanto più benemerito chi crede senza aver visto."