Maria Bianca Cita “Why not?”

Maria Bianca Cita “why not?” is a tribute to Maria Bianca Cita, one of the most important scientists in the development of modern Earth science in Italy.

The documentary visually retraces the important phases of an outstanding, charismatic, extremely skilled scientist, since the days when to cross the borders of geology  was not at all obvious. In the post-war period it was not easy being a woman scientist in a field ruled by men. Through unpublished images, taken from the family archives and original interviews made in 2017 to Maria Bianca Cita, it emerges the story of a scientist endowed with a outstanding geological intuition. Intuition that allowed her to pursue hypotheses such as the Mediterrean dessication and to understand new research opportunities at the frontier of scientific drilling of the ocean bed and exploration with the bathyscaphe Alvin. Maria Bianca Cita: “why not?” has the will to lead the example to future generations, of a person who has dedicated her own life to science.

The interviews of Professor Cita were realized between 2015 and 2016 in her home located in Milan where - notwithstanding her physical conditions -, she gifted hours of records, stories and curiosity. In the same place, the last 12th of September, she celebrated her 95th birthday.