Roberto de Mattei
Italian scientists probably weren’t surprised when they saw in the bookstores a new work entitled Evolutionism: the Decline of a Hypothesis. Italy does have a fairly substantial Creationist movement, and the statements the book made were pretty close to Creationist doctrine: Dinosaurs didn’t go extinct until 40,000 years ago, what scientists take to be fossil strata are only high-water marks from Noah’s Deluge, etc.
But if they recognized the name given as the book’s author the case became stranger. His name was Roberto de Mattei, also known as the person occupying the second highest office, after only the president, of Italy’s National Research Council, the principal source of funding for scientific research anywhere in the country. Not only that but it began to look as though the Council had even helped to underwrite the cost of publishing the book.
Well, the Italian public is pretty used to scandals, although they usually involve sex or money. Maybe it’s time for a little variety.
