Anna Grassellino, the quantum detective

Has won the Breakthrough Prize, known as the Oscar of science, one of the most coveted awards in the world for its particle research. The most powerful is being built at Fermilab in Chicago quantum computer never conceived. He directs one of the five national centers (the SQMS, Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center) that the US government has decided to finance for the advancement of quantum technologies. All other centers are run by men. Lead 400 scientists from every corner of the planet. He has five years and $115 million in funding for an incredible mission. Anna Grassellino, born in 1981, Sicilian from Marsala, married to a Russian-Ukrainian scientist of the highest level, is the mother of three children from 6 to 11 years old. All this would be enough to make her one role model. The new Marie Curie. But there’s more. Early in her career she was also honored by Barack Obama, teaches at Northwestern University. Every morning she trains by running. She loves Latin and poetry. Her status on Whatsapp says “Leges sine moribus vanae” (laws without morals are useless). And when she talks to you about science, she talks to you about adventure. And of philosophy. “Physics is a fascinating adventure. It is confronting nature and discovering that she is always right”.

I interview her on Saturday, the International Day of Women in Science. He laughs, she tries to explain everything to you with great simplicity (“quantum physics is one of the most difficult things for the human mind to understand, it’s counterintuitive”). She often says “this is a good question”, she gets serious, she asks her son to let her do the interview because he is explaining the quantum computer to an Italian journalist and you hear the child asking her in English: “but when will this computer arrive ?”. “We are still far away, it won’t happen tomorrow, but we are working on it with great passion”.

2022 was the year of quantum. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2022 has been awarded to the pioneers of quantum information. But what is the quantum computer for? “To make calculations that a computer can’t do today. It’s even more powerful than the super computer, it has an exponential advantage. We can compare it to the plane: the plane can take you where the car can’t, like crossing the ocean. There are so many problems that it would take even a super computer a thousand years to solve. The quantum computer does these calculations in seconds“.

The only woman, the only Italian at this level, Grassellino is writing a new chapter in world quantum physics. Her job is to try to understand the universe around us. What is it made of. If you ask her how she does everything, she replies: “I try to stay focused on concrete goals. I take opportunities where they are. And I don’t give up.” You won the direction of Fermilab’s SQMS in 2020 by answering a call and overcoming a very high competition. “With my team I presented a 1,000-page project written during the pandemic. Everyone thought we wouldn’t make it. Because we were too young. Instead it was a choice of merit”.

“Mathematics is the search for truth”

Doctor grandparents. Dad director of a radiological clinic in Marsala. Mom teacher of Latin and Greek. Distinguishing marks: Anna is an optimist (“a scientist cannot be a pessimist, otherwise he stops at the first confrontation with reality which is not always what you would like”). She is born for numbers. His first source of inspiration? An elementary school teacher who makes her love math. “Mathematics is the search for truth. It is not questionable. She fascinates me for her concreteness”. Then in middle school she meets another teacher. “She was very tough. She always and very harshly said how things were”. At 17, Anna leaves Marsala. Direction Pisa. Choose electronic Engineering. Thanks to an exchange with the University, he goes on an internship at Fermilab, the research laboratory dedicated to the study of elementary particle physics, which owes its name to the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi. “Here research never slept. I experienced the passion for discovery firsthand in an international climate. And I fell in love with these machines with thousands of threads. I wanted to know more”. He follows a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he does a PhD. Master’s thesis in Vancouver. After graduation, Fermilab called her back. She soon becomes a senior scientist.

He makes many discoveries. In 2017, Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (Pecase), the highest award given by the United States government to outstanding scientists and engineers who begin their careers independently. “I wasn’t able to pick up that award at the White House, but I met Obama at a summit in Chicago. I introduced myself and said, ‘President, thank you! I’m a Pecase’. And he said, ‘What did we award you for? ?’ And I very quickly: ‘For the discovery on how to improve the efficiency of the particle accelerator…’ He looks at me amazed, then looks at the others and says: ‘this one is much smarter than all of us put together’. It was one of the best experiences of my life.”

Today Anna is shedding new light on dark matter. In 2022, it won what has been dubbed the Oscar of science: the Breakthrough Prize. An award that goes to the scientists who ask the biggest questions and find the most profound explanations. “Science is a challenge. And we are like detectives. We ask ourselves questions, then we do experiments to understand if the hypotheses we have formulated are right”. Conceived by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, whose founders are Sergey Brin (the co-founder of Google), Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg, Anne Wojcicki, Yuri and Julia Milner, the prize is divided into five categories, each of which wins three million dollars.

“Science progresses if it has no borders”

“I left Italy because I wanted to know more. I’m not a brain drain. Science is international. It has no borders. It progresses if we are open. If we are inclusive. On the contrary, it benefits from having no borders. I have a very strong bond with our country. I collaborate with the Nuclear Physics Institute, with my professors in Pisa, with the Ministry. Return? No, I’m not going back right now. Of course if Italy called me to build a project similar to that of Fermilab, I would. I would feel responsible.”

Anna has learned many lessons. About physics, about careers, about women. On the Fall Forward, which the American actor Denzel Washington pronounced in a lecture at the university and which has become his mantra. “It means falling forward. If you fall forward in life, you fall forward. Give everything you have. The difficulties are endless, always. But if you overcome them, they take you a little further. My challenges? Reconciling private life with that I can’t spend as much time with my children as I would like, and sometimes I ask myself: Am I making the right choice? Becoming a project leader is not easy. Becoming one in a male-dominated field takes double the effort. I had to fight to hold important positions. I always came forward, nothing was offered to me. To the girls I say: Sign up for science subjects, science can enrich our souls. And don’t be afraid: science is made of objectivity, not of stereotypes”.

And what would you like for your children? “I want what every parent wants. To be able to follow their dreams.”

Interview

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