Telmo Pievani (1970) is Full Professor at the Department of Biology, University of Padua, where he covers the first Italian chair of Philosophy of Biological Sciences since 2015, and visiting scientist at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. After Ph.D. researches in USA, he has been Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Milan Bicocca (2001-2012). Past President (2017-2019) of the Italian Society of Evolutionary Biology, he is Fellow of several academic Institutions and scientific societies. He is member of the editorial boards of Evolution: Education and Outreach, Evolutionary Biology, Rendiconti Lincei Sc. Fis. Nat., Nature Italy, and the Italian edition of Scientific American. He is author of 375 publications, included several books: “Introduction to Philosophy of Biology” (Laterza, 2005); “The Theory of Evolution” (Il Mulino, 2010); “Born to Believe” (Codice Edizioni, 2008, with V. Girotto and G. Vallortigara); “The Unexpected Life” (Cortina Editore, 2011); “Homo sapiens. The Great History of Human Diversity” (Codice Edizioni, 2011, with L.L. Cavalli Sforza), “Introduction to Darwin” (Laterza, 2012); “The End of the World” (Il Mulino, 2012); “Freedom of migration” (Einaudi, 2016, with V. Calzolaio); “How we will be” (Codice Edizioni, 2016, with L. De Biase); “Imperfection. A natural history” (Cortina, 2019, MIT Press, 2022); “The Earth after us” (Contrasto, 2019; with F. Lanting’s photos), “Finitude” (Cortina, 2020); “Serendipity” (Cortina, 2021; MIT Press, 2024); “Nature is bigger than us” (Solferino, 2022); “All Possible Worlds” (Cortina, 2024). Several of his books are available in many languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Korean, and Chinese. Fellow of the Scientific Board of science festivals in Italy, since 2014 he is fellow of the International Scientific Council of MUSE in Trento. He is Director of “Pikaia”, the Italian website dedicated to evolution (www.pikaia.eu). He is Director of the University of Padua web magazine, Il Bo LIVE (https://ilbolive.unipd.it). With Niles Eldredge, Ian Tattersall and Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, he curated International science exhibitions. In 2023, he coordinated the realization of the Museum of Nature and Humankind in Padua. Winner of 17 awards, author of books for children and theatre scientific shows, he collaborates with RAI radio and TV projects, he is a columnist for Il Corriere della Sera, and the magazines Le Scienze and Micromega. In February 2024, the International Astronomical Union dedicated an asteroid to him: 120098 EJ50 2003 (https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=120098%20Telmopievani). Personal website: www.telmopievani.com

Curriculum PDF File

Telmo Pievani’s current main research interests are in the field of philosophy of evolutionary biology: - Philosophy of Biology; - History of ideas in biological thought; - The Structure of Evolutionary Theory; - Gradualism, adaptationism, reductionism, pluralism; - Punctuated Equilibria Theory; - Hierarchy Theory of Evolution; - Multilevel selection; - The concept of exaptation; - Structuralism and functionalism in biology; - Charles Darwin's work and logic of discovery: the Transmutation Notebooks 1836-1844 - Darwin's Heritage in XX and XXI Centuries; - Stephen J. Gould’s work and heritage; - Philosophy of epigenetics; - Nature and nurture problem; - Human evolution (hominin phylogeny); - The communication of science in evolutionary fields.

Last update: 31/07/2024