People From Veneto

"The World is Made of Events, not Things."

"But it isn’t absence that causes sorrow. It is affection and love. Without affection, without love, such absences would cause us no pain. For this reason, even the pain caused by absence is, in the end, something good and even beautiful, because it feeds on that which gives meaning to life."

"If I move one watch, put it higher, and wait a little bit... with very good clocks, and today we can... you bring it [back] down, and this [the clock that was higher] is ahead, this [the clock that remained lower] is behind. ...The clock up, has measured more time than the clock down. And it's not just a matter of clocks. Everything, ...if you are high ...a flower would blossom more, a machine would do more cycles ...more things happening up than down. Of course, the difference is small, otherwise we would have noticed it ...earlier."

"Quite remarkably, this was understood before having good clocks... It is one of great intuitions by Einstein. In 1915 he completed the theory of relativity... At the time clocks were not good enough... it was a theory, a good speculation... Today it is not a theory... It's a fact that we measure in the labaratory. ...It's so clear and definite that technology needs this to be taken into account."

"GPS... gets messages from satellites. On those satellites are clocks... The satellites broadcast the times and your little device use the time to tringulate wherever you are... [W]hen this was built the physicists told the [engineers] that were putting up the system, "Careful, up there... your clocks are going to run faster..." ...The entire project was controlled by the American army ...supervised by the generals ...[who] didn't believe it. So the first satellites were put up there with a switch... and of course it does not work if you do not take this into account. ...You would crash the car against the wall, driving with the navigator if we didn't [take] this into account ..."

"This means that the time between [points on a line] is 24 hours here but... more if you're... higher, and less if you're less [high]. ...Now it's measurable to 30-40 cm [difference in] altitude in the lab."

"What makes the difference is the mass. ...[T]he earth is a big mass and it slows down time. If you go to a bigger mass, like Jupiter, it's stronger. If you go near a big star it's stronger. If you're near a black hole... it's even more strong, so strong that if you go very near... time essentially stops down. It goes very, very, very slowly."

"If we had a starship, we could move near a black hole, stay there for a half hour and then come out. Outside hundreds of years could have gone. So we could... come away from the black hole into the far future easily."

"[T]ime is much more elastic than our intuition of this rigid passage... The time interval between one point and another... depends on where you are."

"[I]n "Helgoland" Rovelli explains his "relational" interpretation, in which an electron, say, has properties only when it interacts... When it is not interacting, the electron is devoid of physical properties: no position... velocity... trajectory. ...[T]he electron's properties are real only for the object it's interacting with and not for other objects. ...Rovelli's lyricism may depend on how many other ...accounts of quantum physics one may have read: The more that number, the more "Helgoland" will seem a poem."

"'... is a magnificent example of the adage "less is more". Tackling everything from quantum physics and cosmology to particle physics, space-time and black holes in so few words... Rovelli... managed... with aplomb. ...The Order of Time ...is a little more conventional ...the first part covering ..., the arrow of time, relativity, synchronization and the notion of Planck time... The second part imagines a world without time, while [in] the third Rovelli wonders how we perceive a flow of time in a timeless world. ...[H]e has a deep technical knowledge ...he knows what the hell he’s talking about ...Rovelli can condense complex ideas into beautifully written prose, gently guiding the reader through mind-bending ideas without... cliché or stale metaphors. Anecdotes, history, art, philosophy and culture pepper the text."

"[W]hile we scientists know how to use [quantum physics]... [w]e don't know what it's telling us about the fundamental nature of reality. It is into that chasm that... Rovelli leaps with his new book Helgoland. ...Rovelli is one of the world's leading theoretical physicists. He is also a lyrical writer whose previous bestsellers have offered beautiful meditations on "the adventure of science." ...What quantum mechanics is teaching us, Rovelli says, is that reality is a vast net of interactions where there are no things, only relationships. ...Helgoland is not... a book to learn quantum mechanics from. ...Rovelli is offering a new way to understand not just the world but our place in it ..."

"With the fate of Schrödinger's cat in the balance and Heisenberg's idea that quantum theory only describes observations, Rovelli inevitably asks the tricky questions: what is observation? What is an observer? ...He is the champion of the "relational" interpretation... [that] quantum theory does not describe the way in which quantum objects manifest themselves to "observers", but... how every physical object manifests itself to every other physical object. The world we observe is... better understood as a web of interactions and relations rather than objects."

"Rovelli talks about time as a complex collection of layers and then strips away those layers... I find an elegant grandeur in how he relates the worlds of science, philosophy and art. What’s more, scientists and philosophers, going back to ancient times, have weaved a connection between poetry and physics, or, as it was once called, "." ...I can think of no one other than Rovelli who would begin all but one chapter of his nonfiction book with excerpts from the "Odes" of Horace. That single aberrant chapter... quotes Shakespeare’s "Henry IV, Part I." ...Rovelli’s new story of time is elegant and lucidly told, whether he is revealing facts or indulging in romantic-philosophic speculation about the nature of time."

"The beauty of physics lies in its precise statements, and that is what is essential to convey. Many readers won’t have the background required to distinguish fact from speculation. Words can turn equations into poetry, but elegant language shouldn’t come at the expense of understanding. Rovelli isn’t the first author guilty of such romanticizing... But when deceptively fluid science writing permits misleading interpretations to seep in, I fear that the floodgates open to more dangerous misinformation."

"Wedging old ideas into new thinking is analogous to equating thousand-dollar couture adorned with beads and feathers and then marketed as "tribal fashion" to homespun clothing with true cultural and historical relevance. Ideas about relativity or gravity in ancient times weren’t the same as Einstein’s theory. Art (and science) are in the details. Either elementary matter is extended or it is not. The universe existed forever, or it had a beginning. Atoms of old aren’t the atoms of today. Egg and flour are not a soufflé. Without the appropriate care, it all just collapses."

"Carlo Rovelli... is one of the great scientific explicators of our time. His... '... remains the world's fastest selling science book. ...The Order of Time and ' ...illuminated ...Einsteinian relativity, gravitational waves and other ...physics. ...Rovelli's gift is to bring difficult ideas down a level. His books continue a tradition of jargon-free popular scientific writing from Galileo to Darwin that disappeared in the academic specializations of the last century."

"Del Piero is known for his sense of humour. He once joked that if Lippi does not convoke him to the World Cup in Germany, he would "run him over with his car and sink his damn boat"."

"After that, Alessandro Del Piero became my hero, I really admired him."

"It’s still surprising to me that Alessandro Del Piero has gone through his career without winning this trophy (the Ballon d'Or)."

"Let’s say he scored a goal a la Baggio, a la Maradona. He took the ball in midfield, dribbled 3-4 teammates of mine. He’s good, what can I say?"

"He (Del Piero) always comes to the training field with a smile for everyone, a comforting word for everyone. This is his greatness: humbleness... he’s a golden person."

"Del Piero is able to do certain things, that could seem extraordinary, but he does them like they were simple"

"Del Piero is my idol. When I arrived at Juventus and I was introduced to Alex, it was like touching the heavens with my finger"

"Alex is an example for all of us. He works hard in training without ever speaking out."

"Talking about the best 100 world footballers ever he says "Here he is, he is different from Zidane, he likes to play, he feels it in his soul; between he and the French (Zinedine Zidane), I stay with him.""

""Del Piero is a champion with extraordinary technical ability and wonderful characteristics. When he is selected he never disappoints. He is an example to us all." "He has great skills and intuitions that few other players have". "He is a captain in the real sense of the word"."

"Del Piero is the best Italian footballer."

"With his charm and charisma he has won us all, his creativity and magnificent talent have given us nothing more to ask for, and his free kicks, no comment"

"Even though Del Piero may be well into his 30s now, he remains one of the great players."

"I've met Ale at the Primavera. And he was already a phenomenon. He was so brave that we forced the coach to make him debut at the main team". "He has those abilities that only great stars have. And everyone, as soon as they saw him, said “This one will surely make it"

"Del Piero is a true genius"

"I believe in champions and Alex is a champion". "Del Piero is a player of very high quality and deserves his record". Because of having many strikers in the squad: "Sometimes I feel embarrassed at putting him on the bench."

"In my view he’s the best person I’ve met in this sport."

"He's the greatest player I've ever played against. He dribbled in an incredible way."

"He is an exceptional person and really doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone. Del Piero is a wonderful man and player."

"Del Piero is the best player in the history of Italian football. He is a person for who I do not only have a lot of respect, but a lot of affection as well."

"He is a world-class player who needs no introductions."

"During the Calciopoli scandal: "A true gentleman never leaves his lady.""

"He is considered to have a strong bond with the Juventus fans, once stating; "I'm proud to be a Juventino, to be a "bandiera", like you define me to be often, in reality I'm just a small part of a big black & white "bandiera" (flag) that grows with the years and if you look closely your name is part of it... To continue making this "bandiera" grow we need everybody: let's stay united.""

"It was the habit of Titian to paint pictures for the places they were intended to fill, and in this he fol- lowed the traditions of all the schools. Sketching and laying in the subjects so far as he was able in his workshop at home, he took the canvas to the spot in which it was to hang, and finished it there."

"There are three Venetians that are never separated in my mind — Titian, Veronese, and Tintoret."

"Titian, Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese absolutely enchanted me, for they took away all sense of subject. ... It was the poetry of color which I felt, procreative in its nature, giving birth to a thousand things which the eye cannot see, and distinct from their cause."

"I had not thought that I was doing wrong; I had never taken so many things into consideration."

"I paint my pictures with all the considerations which are natural to my intelligence, and according as my intelligence understands them."

"We painters use the same license as poets and madmen."

"Titian, Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese absolutely enchanted me, for they took away all sense of subject.. ..It was the poetry of color which I felt, procreative in its nature, giving birth to a thousand things which the eye cannot see, and distinct from their cause."

"Titian's preferred painting ground was of a red color, and in instances where he did not employ a light , his paintings suffered considerable darkening. Titian never painted directly on the white ground and his paintings... apparently do not carry a multi-colored but rather a neutral underpainting. Glazings on Titian's paintings are not abundant. Only in instances when a color, such as madder lake or , did not lend itself to another application were glazes used. However... glazes might have been removed from some... paintings... during the many cleanings... [I]t is probable that the use of nut oil, which was favored by Italian painters of his time, was responsible for the embrittlement of the paint film. might also have contributed to the darkening... I disagree with those who assert that Titian and El Greco painted on a underpainting."

"Among the Renaissance masters, Titian, after he free himself from the influence of his teacher, , was perhaps the most nearly akin to us in his conception of oil painting. This kinship is... objectified... in the freedom of his brush stroke, the broad treatment of details, and the lack of attention to non-essential paraphernalia. Also, the conscious use of tonal values—i.e., variations of the same color—... contrasts with the coloristic ideas of the painters who used their colors with little tonal graduation. Another important characteristic... is the fuzzy, blurred appearance of the contour, which is not unlike the... Impressionists. Only the brownish patina... and the absence of certain color combinations in which we delight today, make them look different from our own paintings."

"This is to show the world that I can paint like Titian. [A big drawing of a rectangle] Only technical details are missing."