Roberto Trotta’s Starborn Traces Humanity’s Debt to the Stars

Yinka Olatunbosun

What if the sky had always been hidden from view? Would humanity have discovered astronomy, developed its earliest systems of navigation or arrived at the scientific understanding of the universe that shapes modern life? These questions lay at the heart of Starborn: How the Stars Made Us Who We Are, the book by theoretical physicist and author Roberto Trotta, presented recently at the Consulate General of Italy in Lagos.

The event, held at the consulate’s Victoria Island premises, brought together diplomats, academics, science enthusiasts and cultural figures for an evening exploring the enduring relationship between humanity and the cosmos.

At the centre of the gathering was a fireside conversation between Trotta and Dr Olaokun Soyinka, who moderated the discussion. Together, they explored the book’s central argument: that humanity’s encounters with the night sky have helped shape civilisation, influencing everything from agriculture and navigation to philosophy, religion and the emergence of modern science.

Opening the proceedings, representatives of the Italian Consulate underscored the importance of scientific and cultural diplomacy, highlighting the institution’s role in encouraging intellectual exchange between international researchers and Nigeria’s academic and creative communities.

The conversation took an intriguing turn when Soyinka invited Trotta to consider a world in which clouds had permanently concealed the stars from human view. Such a scenario, Trotta suggested, would have radically altered humanity’s intellectual development. Without the celestial patterns that early observers studied and interpreted, the course of scientific discovery—and perhaps civilisation itself—might have been very different.

The night sky, in this telling, was never merely a spectacle for idle contemplation. Its regular movements helped people measure time, navigate unfamiliar territories and organise agricultural life. Over centuries, the desire to understand what lay beyond the Earth also helped nurture the habits of observation and inquiry that underpin modern science.

Trotta used the discussion to encourage a reconsideration of humanity’s place in the universe. He also drew attention to the growing threats to our view of the cosmos, particularly light pollution and the proliferation of satellite constellations, which increasingly complicate astronomical observation.

The concern extends beyond professional astronomy. The loss of dark skies, Trotta argued, risks severing a connection that has informed human thought and imagination for millennia.

Soyinka’s questioning helped make the scientific and historical dimensions of the book accessible without losing sight of their complexity. Drawing on his experience in science communication, Trotta combined accounts of early astronomical discoveries with reflections on his own career across astrophysics, data science and public engagement.

An interactive session followed, with guests raising questions about the future of space exploration, the preservation of dark skies and the place of scientific literacy in developing countries. Trotta responded with evident enthusiasm, stressing that curiosity about the universe is not the preserve of any one nation or culture.

The formal programme ended with a reception in the consulate’s courtyard. Conversations continued over refreshments, while a queue formed at the signing station as guests sought signed copies of Starborn and the opportunity to meet its author.

For Lagos’s literary and intellectual community, the presentation offered an invitation to look beyond the familiar boundaries of earthly experience. Trotta’s book makes a compelling case that the stars have done more than decorate the night sky: they have helped shape the questions humanity asks, the knowledge it pursues and the stories it tells about itself.

In an age when artificial illumination and technological expansion are steadily changing our view of the heavens, Starborn also poses a timely question: what might we lose if future generations can no longer look up and see the stars that helped make us who we are?