Massimo Polidoro is a writer and a science journalist. He began his career as the apprentice to the famed magician and skeptical investigator James “The Amazing” Randi and is the cofounder of the Italian skeptics group CICAP. A research fellow for the Center for Skeptical Inquiry, he is a columnist for its magazine, “The Skeptical
Inquirer”, since 2002.
After graduating in Psychology, he taught “Scientific Method and Anomalistic Psychology” at the University of Milan and now teaches “Science Communication” at the Polytechnic in Milan and to Padua University’s PhD students. He is presently Visiting scholar at the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University to further investigate the relationships between science and magic.
He is the author of over sixty books, including “Final Séance. The strange friendship between Houdini and Conan Doyle” and “Secrets of the Psychics”. His latest book, “La scienza dell’incredibile”, is a multidisciplinary study in the understanding of the biological and
social origins of extraordinary beliefs.
Abstract
The Skepticism of Leonardo da Vinci: What Can We Learn from a Genius?
How did the greatest “genius” of all think? What went into his mind when he was faced with a problem, an enigma or a mystery? How can we use his habits and ways of reasoning to become better thinkers? Massimo Polidoro, who studied and wrote extensively on Leonardo da Vinci, will share the genius’ “thinking toolkit” to help us all improve our problem solving and inquiring techniques.