Authors: Riccardo Muolo & Gina Gunaratnam

In 2024, the EPS released a calendar of "Inspiring Physicists". Read the interview of Riccardo Muolo, postdoctoral researcher at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. He wrote the editorial of the calendar, together with Lorena Ballesteros Ferraz and Sébastien Mouchet. They also published an opinion letter about the Matilda Effect in the Society's magazine EPN.

How did you get to know the European Physical Society?

Some colleagues in Namur, Belgium, told me about the society and its monthly magazine, so I checked it out and I was impressed by all the initiatives regarding outreach and education.

Could you describe your current field of research in a few words?

My field is complex systems, at the edge between physics and applied mathematics. More specifically, I study the emergence of collective behaviors, such as synchronization, in an ensemble of elementary units. They way in which such units interact with each other shapes the collective dynamics, which is way richer than the individual ones. The whole is much more than the sum of its parts.

What are the challenges of your field?

Until now, we have developed solid theoretical tools, but what is missing is a bridge towards observations and experiments. There are some models with many variables claiming that they explain certain phenomena, but to me they don’t make much sense because they work only for a specific phenomenon with variables and parameters chosen ad hoc. I think the main challenge now is to build models closer to reality that are still meaningful and can help us not only explain, but also understand, what we observe.

How would you encourage students to work in this field?

Be curious. The field of complex systems is intrinsically interdisciplinary and gives the chance to work with researchers from many different fields. Besides the technical skills that are required to carry out any research in physics and mathematics, in complex systems the key is to be curious and open minded: one has to be able to communicate with scientists from sociology to biology, meaning that we need to understand different approaches and ways to treat problems. It can be hard at first, but in the end it is so rewarding. Interdisciplinary research is very exciting!

Why is it important for you to encourage girls to study physics?

I think that we need science to reflect the composition of society. So this is related to have more girls in physics, but in general to have a more diverse and heterogeneous environment. This mainly for two reasons. First, because only a truly diverse environment can foster new ideas and tackle the many challenges ahead of us. If we put in a room only people with the same mentality and background, we are missing a whole lot of perspective. Second, because, whether we like it or not, science, and physics in particular, is a tool of power. Our research shapes the future in good and in bad, and our discoveries have a tremendous impact on society. Given its importance, we need everybody at the table and we must keep it democratic and transparent as much as possible.

Short Bio

I studied physics (Bachelor) and applied mathematics (Master) in Florence, Italy. For a year, I was PhD student of biology at the VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands, but then moved back to mathematics starting a PhD in Namur, Belgium. After my graduation, I moved to Tokyo for a postdoc, position that I currently hold.

Besides my academic activity, I’m involved in an outreach project in Italy called “Penne Amiche della Scienza” (the Italian version of the US Letters to a Pre-scientist) in which we connect a scientist with a primary or middle school class and have them write letters to each other.