The Enrico Fermi Museum
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The legacy of Enrico Fermi. The challenges of the future

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The Enrico Fermi Research Center - CREF promotes original and high-impact lines of research, based on physical methods, but with a strong interdisciplinary character and in relation to the main problems of the modern knowledge society.

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The CREF was born with a dual soul: a research centre and a historical museum. Its aim is to preserve and disseminate the memory of Enrico Fermi and to promote the dissemination and communication of scientific culture.

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Publications, news, press review. For interviews, filming, and press contacts, please write to comunicazione@cref.it

FOTO FOOT
XX FOOT General Meeting at CREF
17 June 2026
The Enrico Fermi Research Center (CREF) hosted the XX General Meeting of the FOOT experiment from June...

the research

Extreme Energy Events Project

The Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project – “Science in Schools” is an experiment for the detection and study of cosmic rays at ground level, combined with an innovative program for the dissemination of scientific culture. It involves the installation of cosmic muon telescopes in Italian schools: students and teachers take part in all stages of the experiment, from the construction of the detectors to data analysis. Launched in 2005, it now includes 80 Italian high schools, with hundreds of students participating in the activities each year. It represents a national observatory for monitoring the cosmic-ray flux and enables correlation studies among the events detected across the network. The PolarquEEEst mission, launched in 2018, expanded the network through the installation of three scintillation detectors in Ny-Ålesund, in the Svalbard Islands, in 2019, in collaboration with the CNR.
Cosmic rays, discovered more than a century ago, continue to be of fundamental interest. Although much has been understood about their composition, their origin and, in part, the mechanisms of acceleration — one of which was proposed by Enrico Fermi in his paper “On the Origin of the Cosmic Radiation,” published in 1949 in the journal Physical Review — there are still several questions researchers are trying to answer. Many of these are related to the mechanism capable of producing Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs). Others concern their possible production by dark matter particles, the chemical evolution of molecules in interstellar space, their effect on the development of life on planets, or the possible link between cosmic rays and climate. They also offer extraordinary educational opportunities to introduce young people to advanced concepts in modern physics. The Extreme Energy Events Project detects and studies cosmic rays in collaboration with Italian schools, introducing a practical and interdisciplinary approach that recalls Fermi’s legacy.
 
This project is connected to the EEE Laboratory.

Marco Garbini (Project Leader)

Fabrizio Coccetti

Silvia Pisano

Kristian Piscicchia

In addition to their scientific importance, cosmic rays offer extraordinary educational opportunities for introducing young people to advanced concepts in modern physics. The idea behind the Extrem Energy Events (EEE) Project, presented by its creator Prof. A. Zichichi in 2004, is for Italian high school students to participate in every phase of a cosmic ray physics experiment, starting with the construction of the detector. This practical and interdisciplinary approach, which echoes the legacy of Enrico Fermi, not only stimulates interest in science but also encourages critical thinking and an understanding of the connections between microscopic phenomena and the large-scale universe.

Including the topic of cosmic rays in school curricula can transform learning into an engaging and formative experience, bringing young people closer to the frontiers of scientific research and inspiring a new generation of scientists. The opportunity to create a national network for monitoring cosmic radiation represents another element of training and scientific education through teamwork.