Dr. Fiorella Terenzi

by John BushTranscribing the music of the cosmos for the residents of terra firma, Italian astrophysicist Dr. Fiorella Terenzi utilized groundbreaking techniques to produce actual sound through the conversion of radio waves received from distant galaxies. Resembling nothing so much as the musical oddities of space-age pop figures like Esquivel or Bruce Haack, she gained a doctorate in physics at the University of Milan, but studied opera and composition as well. After teaching mathematics and physics in Milan, she ventured to the University of California at San Diego's Computer Audio Research Laboratory and began working on different ways to classify celestial objects. After Terenzi recorded Music from the Galaxies for Island, she gained an appreciable profile through appearances in the pages of Time, People, Glamour and the Wall Street Journal. She also hit the lecture circuit in American, Europe and Asia, earning praise from television wit Dennis Miller, who called her "a cross between Carl Sagan and Madonna." Terenzi also collaborated with the copacetic Thomas Dolby, and appeared on a tribute album for another noted recording artist with scientific credentials, Timothy Leary.