Prizes

A testimony to the work of the INAF scientists, and the groups that support them, are the national and international prizes that our researchers receive. It is worth mentioning the "Premio della Repubblica" that the head of state, Giorgio Napolitano, awarded to a researcher at IASF-INAF in Milan, or the "Linceo" Prize, the most prestigious Italian prize, awarded every 10 years, which this year was given to a researcher at INAF's observatory in Bologna, or the international prize for young talents, the Zeldovich Medal, that was awarded to a young researcher at IASF-INAF in Bologna, the first time for an Italian. The Fermi prize for physics, this year, also for the first time, was awarded to two astrophysicists, an associate professor at the University of Ferrara, and a researcher at the IASF-INAF in Rome, who was then the first Italian in history to also win the international Shaw prize. Many more prizes have been won by the young researchers of our institute, such as the Marisa Bellisario and Marsden prizes.

PRIN grants

INAF uses that part of its operational funding that remains after salaries, fixed costs and contributions to projects and international collaborations, to finance basic research through a competitive and meritocratic process with PRIN-INAF grants, analogous to the PRIN-MIUR grants. In the last three years (2008, 2009,2010) 1.2, 1.4 and 1.6 million euro have been allocated respectively.