On September 28th la “Notte dei Ricercatori” (Researchers’ Night) took place from 4 pm until after midnight, an appointment that , since many years, involves institutions and cities of all Europe. Centro Fermi and the Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project were present in via Zamboni in Bologna, in Cagliari, in the restored Piazza Garibaldi, and in Catania in Piazza Università.
In Bologna the students of Liceo “Luigi Galvani” and Liceo “Enrico Fermi” were the main characters in a stand devoted to the EEE Project, to which the two schools have joined since the beginning. Several students, alternating from 5 pm to 11 pm, described their experience, explaining to the audience the physics of cosmic rays and how the detector operates. Tired, the students left the stand as last, but happy for this experience with the public. The visitors had great appreciation for the activities presented by the students and were impressed by their knowledge and their enthusiasm.
In Cagliari, the University and research institutions, INFN, INAF, CNR were present with many stands from 4 pm to midnight. Researchers and students illustrated their work with small experiments, instruments, posters, seminars. Many peaple have joined the initiative, that has registered around 8,000 visitors. Centro Fermi and the EEE Project were hosted by INFN Cagliari stand, with a cosmic ray detector and a poster illustrating the Project. Corrado, Ester, Gabriella and Stefano have explained to the many participants the aims of the project and the possibility of observing and studying cosmic rays with their detectors.
In Catania, Francesco Riggi presented some activities related to the properties of cosmic rays and their detection, showing a Geiger counter and an EEE Cosmic Box. In the same stand there were also materials, usually used for particle detection (scintillators, optical fibers, electronics boards…), and a video presenting the activities on muon tomography of the volcano Etna.