The Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN; "National Institute for Nuclear Physics") is the coordinating institution for

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space * Nuclear ...

particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, fro ...

, theoretical and

astroparticle physics Astroparticle physics, also called particle astrophysics, is a branch of particle physics that studies elementary particles of astronomical origin and their relation to astrophysics and cosmology. It is a relatively new field of research emerging ...

in Italy.

History

INFN was founded on 8 August 1951, to further the nuclear physics research tradition initiated by

Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" an ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, in the 1930s. The INFN collaborates with CERN,

Fermilab Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory specializing in high-energy parti ...

and various other laboratories in the world. In recent years it has provided important contributions to

grid computing Grid computing is the use of widely distributed computer resources to reach a common goal. A computing grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve many files. Grid computing is distinguished from ...

. During the latter half of the 1950s, the INFN designed and constructed the first Italian electron accelerator—the

electron The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary partic ...

synchrotron A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path. The magnetic field which bends the particle beam into its closed p ...

developed in Frascati. In the early 1960s, it also constructed in Frascati the first ever electron-positron collider ( ADA - ''Anello Di Accumulazione''), under the scientific leadership of Bruno Touschek. In 1968, Frascati began operating ADONE (''big'' AdA), which was the first high-energy particle collider, having a beam energy of 1.5 GeV. During the same period, the INFN began to participate in research into the construction and use of ever-more powerful accelerators being conducted at CERN. The INFN has ''Sezioni'' (Divisions) in most major Italian universities and four national laboratories. It has personnel of its own, but it is mostly the main funding agency for high-energy physics in Italy. University personnel can be affiliated with INFN and receive from it research grants.

Laboratories

* Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, situated near the Gran Sasso mountain * Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, in Legnaro * Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, in Frascati * Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, in Catania

Divisions

Presidents

*1954-1959 Gilberto Bernardini *1960-1965

Edoardo Amaldi Edoardo Amaldi (5 September 1908 – 5 December 1989) was an Italian physicist. He coined the term "neutrino" in conversations with Enrico Fermi distinguishing it from the heavier "neutron". He has been described as "one of the leading nuclear ...

*1966-1970

Giorgio Salvini Giorgio Salvini (24 April 1920 – 8 April 2015) was an Italian physicist and politician. Life Born in Milan, in 1953 Salvini was responsible for the construction of the first Italian circular particle accelerator, the electron synchrotron of F ...

*1970-1975 Claudio Villi *1976-1977 Alberto Gigli Berzolari *1977-1983 Antonino Zichichi *1983-1992 Nicola Cabibbo *1993-1998 Luciano Maiani *1998-2004 Enzo Iarocci *2004-2011 Roberto Petronzio *2011-2019 Fernando Ferroni *2019- Antonio Zoccoli

References

External links