How are you?

«Always negative. Today it is fashionable to answer like this ».

Gian Luigi Gessa is in the office heated by an air conditioner blowing hot air, on the second floor of the Department of Biomedical Sciences of Monserrato. On Wednesday, the pharmacologist-psychiatrist of the two worlds - he worked in the United States and in Italy - will celebrate ninety years by publishing a study on Frontiers in neuroscience , yet another career studded with successes and awards: "In my profession it is a precise method to evaluate if what you do makes sense, if your work is useful ».

The father of the drinking mice, the banner of a scientific community that has thrived in Italy and in the world, mixes memories, sharp judgments and plans for the future: «The only way not to grow old is to fall in love. I love research, so I stay young ».

When did the adventure in pharmacology begin?

"In 1956, a young graduate student, I went to ask for a thesis in the building of biological institutes in via Porcell number 4, an important street in Cagliari dedicated to an obscure anatomist from Barcelona while the scientist Bernardo Loddo is confined to an anonymous open space not far away".

Who did you submit the request to?

«To Professor William Ferrari, from Modena with a voice from Vasco Rossi. It was August, he welcomed me in clogs, shirts and underneath - it was said - nothing. It was available: "The thesis I give it to you, and I invite you to dinner with the rabbit curare", one of those used in the laboratory. I was perplexed, he guessed it: “What kind of pharmacologist are you? The rabbit intestine does not absorb curare, there is no risk ". On the large terrace on one side they cultivated opium, on the other there was the enclosure for dogs taken from the municipal kennel. I also studied them for my degree thesis entitled: "Does the pituitary gland directly influence the brain?" "

The relationship with the animal rights activists?

«One of their slogans gave me the leading role:“ Animals out of the enclosures, in Gessa and his killers ”. I invited them to the laboratory, at that time we were studying the reactions to sexual stimuli. One of them told me: “Here the animals live at an ideal temperature, they mate whenever they want. They are better off than many people ”».

Moving to the United States?

“In 1960. I was destined to stay a year, but they kept me longer. I worked with Bernard Brodie, one of the fathers of modern pharmacology and director of the Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology at the National Institutes Health, the temple of American research. "

How much time did you spend in the US?

“Five and a half years in Bethesda, Maryland, a year and a half in San Diego. The first experience as a young man, the other at 68 ».

Are you sorry to be back in Cagliari?

"There is an extraordinary human climate and many difficulties in finding money for research."

Is the technology park in Pula an unfulfilled promise?

“The naivety has been committed to think that a magnificent place is enough to attract people. They also chose a Nobel laureate, Carlo Rubbia, who came every two months to get his salary. The Nobel Prize was thought to be contagious, so it wasn't. To function, it must be integrated into the university, like Silicon Valley ».

How does one arrive at 90 with an intact passion for work?

«Our job is the only one in the world where you can say 'thank goodness it's Monday'. I have a job in publication, another one published this year with my colleague Paola Devoto, who retired and returned to work for free. She is also passionate ».

Do you impose strict rules, for example in nutrition?

«I smile when they theorize the saving power of centenarians' cheese or wine. I am sober, now in every sense. I don't even go windsurfing anymore. I still have a passion for neuroscience ».

Mistakes?

"Sometimes I didn't know how to judge people's intellectual honesty."

Disappointments from his pupils?

"I'm thrilled with all but one."

Who is?

"Nobody important."

Regret having run for the Regional Council?

"I was president of the Culture Commission: we forged three laws - one on cinema, one on scientific research, another on theater - which make me say that I have done my duty even though I have betrayed my true love for five years" .

What do you believe in?

“I believe that men survive in the memory of others. Some remain millennia, others disappear in an instant ».

Is there anything beyond life?

«Man has three main instincts: to eat, to procreate and to defeat those who are angry with him, first of all death. For this he builds heaven and the idea of eternal life ».

You said sex is a drug: is it bad for you?

"Many live it peacefully, others become slaves to porn sex, especially adolescents and pre-adolescents who have mature sexual organs but are immature in the prefrontal cortex, the one in which the soul resides: one click online is enough to have an infinity of women, a devastating variety. They seek a greater stimulus, a growing transgression, to the point of becoming its slaves ».

What do you think of distance learning lessons in school and university?

«I am convinced that the teaching carried out in this way is sterile. I wouldn't have fallen in love with some "greats" if I hadn't met them. Yes, I too have held some remote lessons and I was ashamed. I'm not against technology, but we have to make some distinctions about how it is used ».

Don't young people want to work?

«Gramsci wrote: “ Each acorn can think of becoming an oak, but in reality 999 per thousand of acorns serve as a meal for pigs ” . Sardinia has a very high rate of early school leaving, few opportunities for growth: how many Mozarts will die without ever having met a piano? "

Is Covid the result of an accident in the Wuhan laboratory?

“I think it's a viromancer's guess. Certainly the pandemic is a boon to the pharmaceutical industry that can churn out vaccines à la carte ».

Do you feel nostalgia?

«It is a beautiful feeling, linked to pleasant traces of life. The women I remember, for example, are the most beautiful possible, in their heyday. Yes, nostalgia in the right doses is a pleasant aspect of life ».

Paolo Paolini

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