Abstract:

The XX century was the scene of one of the most radical scientific revolution that showed how Nature is rather more complex and surprising respect to what we observe in our everyday life. Scientists worldwide committed themselves, with dedication and genius, to assemble the puzzle that lead to the comprehension of the Universe and the laws behind it. We here present “Characters and challenges of Physics”, a Physics education activity realized in the form of an immersive exhibition enriched by scenography elements conceived by the project ScienzaPerTutti of Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics. The exhibition is dedicated to some of the main protagonists of modern Physics and their most important discoveries during the last century.

The visit itinerary is structured in four spaces arranged in four cubes. Every cube presents a specific challenge along with the scientists who contributed to expand our knowledge in this research topic. We explore life, research and passions of every scientists with a focus on the historical and social context in which they lived.

The exhibition was presented during the Science Festival held in Rome in November 2021. The visitors were asked to fill a survey in order to understand which scientists, among the presented ones, were known before the visit and which resulted the most interesting one at the end. The results will be discussed in the paper.

Keywords:

Modern physics, history of physics, public engagement with science, scientific exhibition, informal education, lifelong learning, out of school learning.