Talk:Marcello Costa

A fact from Marcello Costa appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 17 March 2019 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Marcello Costa spent his career researching the links between the nervous system and the gut?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2019/March. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Marcello Costa.

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Date of marriage

Just confirming whether the date of marriage is in the source? The original text that I edited out didn't say they married in 1970, which is why I removed the date. (I agree it isn't trivial.) I couldn't get the source to load, and in any case as it's in Japanese I couldn't read it. Espresso Addict (talk) 11:02, 24 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, @Espresso Addict: I'm confused by why that source was flagged as Japanese - it looks like English to me. So I have fixed that. As for the date, I agree the source does not directly say when they were married. That is why I phrased it like I did originally, though I can't argue if you say it was trivia. The source quotes Costa as saying in 2018: "53 years ago I published my first paper on the gut with my supervisor and mentor Giorgio Gabella in Turin. Five years later Geoff Burnstock invited me to Australia. I ask Daniela If she would marry me and come to Melbourne. She said yes." So in 1970 the proposal was accepted. But I don't have a source that specifically says when they were married - if you think it should be removed I won't argue (until I find a good source, at least).--Gronk Oz (talk) 14:50, 24 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for fixing the language! Actually, thinking about it, you could just put in "around" to cover the date uncertainty. (See [1], which implies the marriage was in 1969.) The trouble with writing about scientists who are alive is it is often hard to find good sources for the sort of basic material that every obituary would carry. Espresso Addict (talk) 21:55, 24 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Espresso Addict: That's brilliant - I'll have to see if there is anything else in that source that can be used as well. Scientists in general are challenging, because there is often a culture of deliberately shunning publicity. No that they are being secretive - many are happy to send me detailed CVs, but the culture they work in often looks down on personal publicity. --Gronk Oz (talk) 23:21, 24 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed! I used to work a fair amount on living scientists but it's easier to find sources on 11th-century priests! I'm not even sure one is allowed to use CVs unless they are officially published (ie hosted at the institution site, or at least linked from it), and I've seen articles at AfD because official CVs (which were hosted by the institution) weren't considered reliable sources. Espresso Addict (talk) 23:54, 24 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]