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23.04.2012

Work to restore the building housing the Fermi Centre in Panisperna Road begins

The Italian Ministry of the Interior has strong ties to the palace, now located within the Viminale compound, that once housed the former Physics Institute in Panisperna Road in Rome, where Enrico Fermi and his collaborators carried out fundamental experiments at the ‘Red fish fountain’, a garden water basin renamed ‘Idea fountain’ by the Nobel laureate physicist.

Restoration work of the historic building was inaugurated last week by the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano who was guest of honour at the ceremony held as part of the plenary session of the Projects’ Second Conference organised by the Historic Museum of Physics and the Enrico Fermi Centre for Study and Research. On the occasion the ‘Red fish fountain’ was officially designated as the site of the European Society of Physics.

This special event took place at the Viminale palace in Rome in the presence of the Minister of the Interior Annamaria Cancellieri. The Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities Lorenzo Ornaghi, the Undersecretary of State for Education, University and Research Elena Ugolini, the President of the Fermi Centre Luisa Cifarelli, the former President of the Centre Antonino Zichichi and the President of the Panisperna Committee Athos De Luca attended the conference.

The building has been used by the Interior Ministry since 1938 when the Institute of Physics moved to a new place. Now it is returned to the Fermi Centre as envisaged by Law n. 62 of 1999 setting up the centre.

The Enrico Fermi Centre for Study and Research was established with the aim of achieving the unrealized ambition of the famous physicist: to create in his native Italy a facility dedicated to pushing forward the frontiers of scientific knowledge. The Center will create a Museum of Physics in the same places where Fermi's experiments took place.
It will include both an historical exhibition area dedicated to Fermi and his research during the 1930s and an interactive stand where visitors will be able to take part in a number of experiments. 

The Centre carries out advanced research studies into a wide range of physics topics while promoting scientific culture and historical memory through the organisation of exhibitions and lectures dedicated to the discoveries made by Fermi and his ‘boys’.