Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare

The Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare ( INFN ) (National Institute for Nuclear Physics ) is a research society for nuclear, particle, and astrophysics in Italy. Comparable example, it is with the Max Planck Society in Germany.

It was founded on August 8, 1951 to continue the research in physics, which was founded in the 1930s by Enrico Fermi in Rome. Nowadays, it is working with CERN, Fermilab and other major research institutions and contributes to grid computing.

In the second half of the 1950s, the first Italian accelerator was built by the INFN in Frascati, an electron synchrotron. In the 60s, the first electron -proton accelerator ADA there arose ( Anello di accumulazione ) under the leadership of Bruno Touschek. At the same time began the INFN collaboration with CERN in the construction of even larger and more powerful particle accelerators.

The INFN today has locations in most Italian university towns and operates four national research institutes:

• LNF ( Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati)
• LNL ( Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro )
• LNGS ( Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso )

It is the largest funder of high-energy physics in Italy. Researchers at universities are often also affiliated to the INFN.