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History and mission

INFN is the national public research institute dedicated to studying the elementary constituents of matter and the fundamental laws of the universe. Its scientific mission is “to promote, coordinate, and undertake scientific research in nuclear, subnuclear, astroparticle and fundamental interactions physics, which also involve technological research and development relevant to the activities in these sectors” (art. 2, INFN Statute).

In Italy, the national research system consists of public and private parties who undertake scientific and technological research. In particular, INFN carries out both theoretical and experimental cutting-edge research in the fields of nuclear, elementary particle, and astroparticle physics. It works in close cooperation with the main Italian universities and in a highly competitive international context, but also, and above all, in large scientific collaborations.

Nuovo Statuto INFN

(effective 1 January 2018)

Decree establishing the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, 8 August 1951 (©INFN)

Experimental research in these sectors requires state-of-the-art instruments that are often unique. To build them, innovative technologies, which INFN develops both in its laboratories and in collaboration with industry, must be designed. Useful applications in other sectors often originate from such technology, benefiting everyone and having a significant positive impact on society in terms of economic development and technological progress.

INFN was set up on 8 August 1951 to take up the legacy of Enrico Fermi and to continue the research that Fermi had started in the 1930s, together with his school, the “Via Panisperna boys”. In the 1950s, INFN designed and built the first Italian particle accelerator, the Electron Synchrotron, and the first accumulation ring in the world in which matter and antimatter collided, the AdA. Both were built in Frascati, where the Institute’s first National Laboratory was also established.

In the same decade, INFN started to participate in research at CERN, which had recently been founded in Geneva, to build more powerful accelerators. At the same time, it became a leader in studying cosmic rays.

During its more than seventy years’ scientific activities at the frontier of knowledge, INFN has been the exponent and heir of the prestigious Italian tradition. It has been able to create a great school that trained thousands of researchers who stood out for their skills and expertise in the main international physics laboratories and research centres. Today, INFN is a community of more than six thousand people that decisively contributes to the most important physics projects in Italy and the world and which has turned fundamental research into a national strength.

“I ragazzi di via Panisperna”, from left: Oscar D'Agostino, Emilio Segrè, Edoardo Amaldi, Franco Rasetti and Enrico Fermi. (© Amaldi Archive, Department of Physics, Sapienza University, Rome)

INFN viene istituito

(8 agosto 1951)

INFN progetta e costruisce il primo acceleratore di particelle italiano, l’elettrosincrotrone, e il primo anello di accumulazione al mondo in cui si scontrano materia e antimateria, AdA, realizzati entrambi a Frascati, dove nasce anche il primo Laboratorio Nazionale dell’Istituto.

(Anni '50)

INFN inizia a partecipare alle attività di ricerca del CERN

(Anni '50)

INFN è una comunità di oltre sei mila persone che contribuisce in modo determinante ai maggiori progetti di fisica in Italia e nel mondo

(Oggi)