Pier Luigi Luisi

Pier Luigi Luisi was awarded a degree in Chemistry at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Italy, in 1963. His scientific career took place at the Zurich Federal Institute of Technology, where he taught and researched Macromolecular Chemistry, and he served as Professor of Biochemistry at the Roma Tre University, Italy, from 2003 to 2015. His scientific studies focus on the origin of life, the philosophy of science, autopoiesis, and synthetic biology. His interest in the interface between science and humanism led him to found the Cortona Week, an annual post-graduate residential gathering aimed at forming a new leaders of the future, in 1985. Since 1987, he has been a member of the Mind and Life Institute, which fosters dialogue between science and Buddhism and was founded by Francisco Varela and the Dalai Lama. He is the author of The Emergence of Life (2016) and The Systems View of Life (with Fritjof Capra, 2016).