This morning the Planck 09 conference started at the Auditorium Altinate (see picture, right) in Padova. For a week, theorists and experimentalists will discuss hot topics in a variety of fields, from particle physics to cosmology, to string theory. A PDF file with the program is online.

I am attending the conference and will be taking notes on some of the talks. Of course the slides of all presentations are going to be online very soon, but even for experts I find that a summary is beneficial. It is tedious to open all pdf or ppt files in search of something remarkable -much better to rely on somebody reporting online, like yours truly!

And today there was something remarkable in store for me at the conference, although slightly more personal than a talk. I found that out as I browsed the list of participants: among them I spotted the name of Adam, a fellow blogger -and probably the one whose posts I envy the most out there, for his clarity, his depth, and his wit. I had never met him before, so I went to the conference with doubled interest and curiosity.

Adam is a nice guy, and we had a brief chat during coffee break... Too little time, and so many things to discuss! We decided we will have lunch together on Wednesday.

So I am happy today that one by one I am ticking off the list of bloggers that I am able to meet in real life: after Peter, Adam -and next will be Marni, which I'll meet somewhere in England, in little more than a month! Unfortunately another blogger I would like to meet, Louise, will be missed by an inch in the same time span: she will be in Paris, but I will be in London. Oh well, there will be another time. As for Sabine, she is coming to Italy in September... Bee, fancy a visit to Venice ?