Edoardo Boncinelli, a central figure in Italian genetics and author of discoveries that have profoundly marked modern biology, has died in Milan at the age of 84. He and his research group are credited with identifying in 1985 the so-called “architect genes”, which are fundamental to understanding the development of the human body. An insight born almost by chance, during a conversation among colleagues, that revolutionized the way of looking at the genetic organization of living beings. Born in Rhodes in 1941, Boncinelli had initially trained in physics at the University of Florence, then turned to genetics and molecular biology. For more than two decades he worked at the CNR Institute of Genetics and Biophysics in Naples, where he carried out his most important studies. He later moved to Milan, Italy, to San Raffaele, where he directed advanced research laboratories in the field of molecular biology and cellular pharmacology. Over time, he increasingly combined experimental research with theoretical reflection and popularization. He called himself an “exorbitantly disciplined rebel”, capable of combining scientific rigor and critical spirit. He taught at several universities, including Naples and Milan, going so far as to receive an honorary degree in Philosophical Sciences from the University of Palermo in 2016. Boncinelli was also a tireless essayist and popularizer. His best-known books include Letter to a Child Who Will Live 100 Years, One Life Is Not Enough and Against the Sacred, in which he tackled the most complex issues of science, ethics and contemporary culture with clarity and courage. A great lover of classical culture, he also edited an anthology of Greek lyricists in 2008, a sign of an intellectual curiosity that has never faded.