GSSI - Gran Sasso Science Institute

29/05/2026

💫 After 700 sessions in 90 classrooms, Cosmic School, an educational program designed to introduce students to STEM subjects, has come to an end.

The project’s final event was hosted by the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics – INFN in Assergi (L’Aquila). The event was attended by a large delegation from the participating schools (approximately 200 students and teachers), as well as representatives from the Fondo per la Repubblica Digitale Impresa sociale, which selected and supported the project, and the partnership comprising the Openpolis Foundation, the GSSI, LNGS, the Gran Sasso Tech Foundation, and the Regional School Office for Abruzzo.

During the morning, some of the work produced by the classes in the workshops organized over the past few months was presented. In total, over 700 sessions were held in approximately 90 high school classes across Abruzzo (L’Aquila, Pescara, Teramo, Avezzano, Sulmona, Vasto, Lanciano, Giulianova, and Nereto), Campania (Pompeii), and Basilicata (Potenza).

Nell’anno scolastico che volge al termine il progetto ha visto coinvolte 13 scuole di tre regioni italiane, oltre a enti di ricerca pubblici e privati, in un percorso teorico e pratico di avvicinamento alle materie STEM. Le parole dei protagonisti.

28/05/2026

Camillo De Lellis, a professor of Mathematics at the Gran Sasso Science Institute in L’Aquila and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, has been awarded the 2026 Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences for his groundbreaking contributions to the application of advanced techniques from mathematical analysis to the study of singularities in geometric measure theory and fluid dynamics.

Often referred to as “the Nobel of the East”, the Shaw Prize was established in Hong Kong in 2002 by media mogul and philanthropist Run Run Shaw. The prize annually honours outstanding achievements in astronomy, computer science, life science and medicine, and mathematical sciences.

Each prize carries a monetary award of 1.2 million dollars. Camillo De Lellis shares the 2026 Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences with Emmanuel Candès of Stanford University.

ℹ️ Read the full story: https://gssi.it/communication/news-events/item/26234-camillo-de-lellis-wins-the-shaw-prize-in-mathematical-sciences

27/05/2026

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration has recently published an update to its gravitational wave catalogue, which includes over 100 new signals.

Researchers from the Astroparticle Physics area at GSSI – Manuel Arca Sedda, Andrea Cozzumbo, Annarita Ierardi, Filippo Santoliquido and Jacopo Tissino – contributed to editorial and review activities related to the GWTC-5/O4b population studies.

This release marks a cornerstone for the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration. Thanks to this new data, researchers have been able to glean new information about the astrophysical properties of the black hole population, highlighting the presence of different formation channels, which leave observable traces in their characteristics, such as their mass and the way they rotate.

«With more than 267 detected sources, we can now robustly constrain the emergent features that shape the mass spectrum of merging black holes» comments Professor Manuel Arca Sedda. «These features may hide, in plain sight, the imprints of different formation mechanisms and evolutionary pathways. One such feature is a sub-population of rapidly spinning black holes. Why do these black holes rotate so fast? The answer is far from trivial. They may be older-generation objects that have already undergone previous mergers, or their rapid rotation may have been inherited from the processes that shaped the final stages of their stellar progenitors’ lives. Understanding how the Universe combines these mechanisms remains a puzzling question, but every new LVK detection brings us closer to completing the picture.»

The LIGO – Virgo – KAGRA Collaboration published today a new catalog of gravitational wave events that adds 161 events to the collection, bringing the total number of gravitational wave signals detected to date to 390 🤯

🏅 The new catalog includes several detections that are themselves exceptional and sets new records in gravitational-wave astronomy observations: the best sky localization ever achieved for a gravitational wave source, the clearest gravitational wave signal ever recorded, and evidence for the existence of second-generation black holes. A wealth of results that marks the coming of age of gravitational astronomy.

“This ever-growing wealth of data, which an entire community of scientists and astronomers is working to analyze and study, has taken us from the era of initial discoveries into that of precision gravitational astronomy.” said Ed Porter, researcher at the Laboratoire Astroparticule et Cosmologie (APC) of CNRS “Today, gravitational wave studies make possible analyses that were previously unimaginable: investigations into black hole populations, increasingly precise tests of general relativity under the extreme physical conditions of the phenomena we observe, and the development of new methods to obtain ever more accurate estimates of the Hubble constant. It is a scenario that not many people would have bet on just ten years ago.”

Learn more ⏩https://www.virgo-gw.eu/news/the-new-ligo-virgo-kagra-catalog-sets-new-records-in-precision-gravitational-astronomy/

Image credits: Derek Davis / University of Rhode Island / LIGO - Virgo - KAGRA

19/05/2026

Astroparticle Physics PhD Thesis Defence

PhD Candidate: Irene Cagnoli

Thesis title: "Measurement of all-particle energy spectrum up to the PeV region with the DAMPE experiment"

Thesis advisors: Prof. Ivan De Mitri, Prof. Pierpaolo Savina (GSSI)

ℹ️ https://gssi.it/seminars/seminars-and-events-2026/item/26224-astroparticle-physics-phd-thesis-defence

18/05/2026

🍻 Pint of Science 2026 is kicking off tonight!

Bringing science to your favourite pub, the festival is back in L'Aquila from May 18-20, starting at 8.30 pm each night. There will be nine talks in total, which will take place in three different venues each evening: Anbra Anonima Brasseria Aquilana, Bottiglieria Lo Zio and Via Verdi Irish pub.

Don't miss these talks by GSSI researchers:

May 19, 8.30 pm
"Come le reti plasmano le nostre vite"
📍 Via Verdi Irish Pub
🎤 Simone Baldassarri

May 20, 8.30 pm
"Troppi turisti? Capire il turismo nel mondo che cambia"
📍 Bottiglieria Lo Zio
🎤 Maria Giovanna Brandano

Find the full programme here: https://pintofscience.it/events/laquila/

18/05/2026

Il Gran Sasso Science Institute e l'Università degli Studi dell'Aquila celebrano la Giornata Internazionale delle Donne in Matematica con "Emmy doesn't care: Una matematica oltre le convenzioni".

L'evento si aprirà con la lettura della pièce teatrale "Emmy se ne infischia…", scritta da Annalisa Panati, che porta in scena la figura di Emmy Noether (1882–1935) attraverso un dialogo vivace e talvolta provocatorio. Tra ironia e confronto, il testo intreccia la sua vicenda scientifica e umana con una riflessione critica sulla rappresentazione delle donne nelle scienze e sull’idea stessa di “modello” a cui ispirarsi.

La lettura sarà seguita da un dialogo con il pubblico, con la partecipazione di Elisabetta Strickland, autrice del volume "Emmy Noether. Vita e opere della donna che stupì Einstein", e di Annalisa Panati.

L'appuntamento è domani, martedì 19 maggio, alle 17.30 presso LiberaMia (Via Scardassieri 42, L'Aquila).

14/05/2026

The GSSI has been awarded a Horizon Europe – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Staff Exchanges grant for the project STRONG, “Strong Gravity Crossroads: Fundamental Fields in the High-Energy Universe”, coordinated by Andrea Maselli. The project will bring an EU contribution of approximately €465K to GSSI.

STRONG is an international research network dedicated to advancing our understanding of strong gravity, black holes, and fundamental fields in the high-energy Universe. The project brings together a consortium of leading institutions in gravitational physics and astrophysics, coordinated by the Gran Sasso Science Institute.

The project foresees an extensive programme of international secondments, fostering the transfer of expertise in high-performance computing, numerical simulations of compact-object mergers, analytical modelling of gravitational dynamics, waveform development, and advanced data-analysis techniques, including machine-learning approaches.

ℹ️ https://gssi.it/communication/news-events/item/26223-strong-gravity-and-black-holes-gssi-project-wins-465k-in-eu-funds

12/05/2026

Nobel Laureate Michel Mayor delivered a lectio magistralis at the Gran Sasso Science Institute as part of the 2026 edition of SPACERAISE, the international summer school on space studies and interdisciplinary applications.

Emeritus Professor at the University of Geneva, Mayor was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics together with his former student Didier Queloz for the discovery, in 1995, of the first planet orbiting a Sun-like star outside our Solar System. This groundbreaking achievement profoundly transformed our understanding of the Universe, opening a new era in astrophysics and exoplanet research.

During his lecture, Professor Mayor discussed the discovery of exoplanets, the breakthrough moments that transformed our understanding of planetary formation, and the future perspectives of exoplanet research, including the possibility of life beyond Earth.

ℹ️ https://gssi.it/communication/news-events/item/26220-nobel-laureate-michel-mayor-delivers-keynote-address-at-gssi-s-spaceraise-school

08/05/2026

60 lecturers and 280 selected participants from 61 different countries gathered in L'Aquila, at the GSSI, for the second edition of SPACERAISE, the international school dedicated to the space applications of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Geospatial Data.

The SPACERAISE school brings together the expertise of the GSSI, the Gran Sasso Tech Foundation and leading industrial partners. Lecturers include university professors – amongst them Michel Mayor, Nobel Laureate for the discovery of exoplanets – and specialists from the aerospace industry and international space agencies such as NASA and ESA.

Compared to last year, the new edition broadens the school’s scope: alongside technologies that are redefining the space sector, such as Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, a module dedicated to geospatial data and its interpretation in the social sciences has been added.

ℹ️ https://gssi.it/communication/news-events/item/26209-launching-the-second-edition-of-spaceraise-at-the-gssi

06/05/2026

Regional Science and Economic Geography PhD Thesis Defence

PhD Candidate: Borys Cieslak

Thesis title: "Redescribing public services as diverse economies: a pragmatic critique of economistic reasoning"

Thesis advisors: Prof. Ugo Rossi (GSSI), Prof. John Tomaney (University College London)

ℹ️ https://gssi.it/seminars/seminars-and-events-2026/item/26207-regional-science-and-economic-geography-phd-thesis-defence