Biographical Notes for Sen. Marcello Pera

Date of birth: 28 January 1943
Place of birth: Lucca, Tuscany
Nationality: Italian
Marital status: married with Mrs Antonia Tomei

Education

• Accountancy degree from "F. Carrara" Upper Secondary School at Lucca, 1962
• Degree summa cum laude in Philosophy from the University of Pisa, 1972
• Foreign languages spoken: English

Professional Background

• Banca Toscana (Lucca, 1962-1963; Agliana, Pistoia,1963-1964)
• Lucca Chamber of Commerce (1964-1973)

Academia

• Assistant Professor, Philosophy of Science, University of Pisa, 1976-1980
• Associate Professor, Philosophy of Science, University of Pisa, 1980-1989
• Professor, Theoretic Philosophy, University of Catania, 1989-1992
• Full Professor of Philosophy of Science, University of Pisa, 1992

Political Background

• Coordinator, Convention for the Liberal Reform (1995)
• Senator during the 13th Parliament, 1996-2001; Polo delle libertà [Alliance of Freedoms] group, Lucca constituency
• Deputy Leader, Forza Italia parliamentary group, 1996-2001
• Member, Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Properties from 30 May 1996 to 14 March 1997
• Member, Standing Committee on the Judiciary from 11 December 1997 to the end of the Parliament
• Member, Joint Committee on Constitutional Reform from 4 February 1997 to the end of its proceedings
• Member, Forza Italia Steering Committee
• Head, Forza Italia Judiciary Department
• Primary sponsor of 10 Bills
• Co-sponsor of 46 Bills
• Mover of 91 questions and interpellations
• Re-elected Senator for the 14th Parliament, 2001; Casa delle libertà [House of Freedoms] group, Lucca constituency
• Elected President of the Senate on 30 May 2001

Research

• Visiting Fellow, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pa, U.S.A., 1984
• Visiting Fellow, The Van Leer Foundation, Jerusalem, Israel, 1987
• Visiting Fellow, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A., 1990
• Visiting Fellow, Centre for the Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences, London School of Economics, London, England, 1995-1996

Contributions to scientific publications and editorial activity

Member of the scientific committees of a number of magazines, including:

• Physis, Rivista internazionale di storia della scienza (1990-), Epistemologia (1990-), Perspectives on Science, Philosophical, Historical, Social, Chicago University Press, Chicago, Ill, U.S.A. (1992-)
• Editor of the book series Filosofia e problemi d'oggi (1985-1990)

Contributions to Italian daily and weekly papers

• L'Espresso (1980-1984), Corriere della Sera (1984-1988), La Stampa (1988-1993), Panorama (1994-1995), Il Messaggero (1994-2001)

Main International Conferences, Colloquia and Workshops

• He participated in a number of scientific seminars and conferences in Italy and abroad, in, amongst other places: Pittsburgh, Montreal, Berkeley, Thessaloniki, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Coimbra, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Harvard, Berlin, London.

Publications

• He wrote a number of articles and essays for Italian and foreign reviews, mostly on the scientific method, the theory of evidence, scientific reasoning.
• He authored many books, amongst which: Induzione e metodo scientifico (Editrice Tecnico Scientifica, Pisa, 1978), Popper e la scienza su palafitte (Laterza, Roma-Bari 1981, second ed. 1982), Hume, Kant e l'induzione (Il Mulino, Bologna, 1982), Apologia del metodo (Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1982), The Ambiguous Frog: The Galvani-Volta Controversy on Animal Electricity (Princeton Univ Press, 1992), Scienza e retorica (Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1992), The Discourses of Science (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1994).
• He edited many publications, including: I modi del progresso. Teorie e episodi della razionalità scientifica (with J. Pitt, Il Saggiatore, Milano 1985), Persuading Science (with W. Shea, Science History Publications, 1991), Il mondo incerto (Laterza, Roma-Bari 1994), Rational Changes in Science (with J. Pitt, Reidel, Dordrecht-Boston 1987), Scientific Controversies (with P. Machamer and A. Baltas, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2000).