Atoms Looking Back at the Stars: The Story of Humanity, from Stardust to the Cosmos – A lecture by Marco Germinario

Atoms Looking Back at the Stars: The Story of Humanity, from Stardust to the Cosmos

– A lecture by Marco Germinario

The Italian Cultural Institute in Copenhagen is pleased to host a lecture by Marco Germinario, an Italian physicist, science communicator, and writer who has lived and worked in Copenhagen for over twenty years.
Germinario presents an immersive and visually engaging journey through the past, present, and future of humanity’s exploration of space. Beginning with the origins of the Universe and of Homo sapiens, the talk traces how our species evolved with extraordinary speed: from stone tools to rockets, from orbital stations to robotic explorers, and to the first realistic plans for human settlements on the Moon and Mars. It also touches on the idea that all living creatures seem to carry, within their genetic code, a deep impulse to explore.
The lecture explores the forces that have shaped space exploration, showing how technological innovation and decisive historical events have accelerated humanity’s path toward the cosmos. Germinario examines the present moment: private spaceflight, new global ambitions, and the profound question of what it means to become a multi-planetary species. He outlines the near future, the arrival on Mars, and ventures into imagining where we might go in a very distant future.
At the heart of the talk lies a central idea: the universe is not only something we observe, but something we reveal, piece by piece, through our instruments, our discoveries, and our consciousness—made of the very atoms that compose the Universe itself. Humanity may be, in a way, the universe learning to look back at itself.
Accessible to a broad audience of all cultures and religions aged 12 and above, the event blends science, storytelling, and powerful imagery, engaging both newcomers and enthusiasts.

Marco Germinario studied physics at the Politecnico di Milano and the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. He is a science communicator, writer, and developer of storytelling projects that combine science with visual and narrative arts. He regularly gives public lectures on astronomy, cosmology, and the future of human exploration of the universe, and collaborates with cultural institutions in Denmark and Italy.