The Giuseppe and Vanna Cocconi Prize 2025 is awarded to the Fermi-LAT and Fermi-GBM collaborations for revolutionizing the field of gamma-ray astronomy. Established 15 years ago, the Giuseppe and Vanna Cocconi Prize of the European Physical Society is awarded every two years for outstanding contributions to Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology—whether experimental, theoretical, or technological. The prize may be awarded to individuals or collaborations. Past recipients include prestigious collaborations such as WMAP and Planck (2019) and Borexino (2021), as well as Nobel laureates like Rainer Weiss, Kip S. Thorne, and Barry C. Barish (2017), and Arthur B. McDonald (2013).
This year, the prize is given to the Fermi-LAT and Fermi-GBM collaborations, the teams of both Fermi instruments, for revolutionizing the field of gamma-ray astronomy and for laying the foundations of modern multi-messenger astrophysics. The award was formally presented at the EPS Conference on High Energy Physics, held in Marseille, France, from July 7–11 of 2025.
Their pioneering work has not only revolutionized our understanding of the high-energy Universe but also enabled fundamental discoveries that will impact the field for decades to come.
The Fermi-LAT collaboration is honored for its exceptional achievements in gamma-ray astronomy. Since its launch in 2008, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) has unveiled a remarkably rich gamma-ray sky, detecting over 5,000 gamma-ray sources, more than twenty times the number known prior to its operation. The collaboration has characterized these sources with unprecedented precision, providing the community with open data and advanced analysis tools that have become standard resources in astrophysics. Among its most significant achievements is the identification of over 200 gamma-ray-emitting pulsars, opening a new window into the study of neutron stars and pulsar magnetospheres. The Fermi-LAT collaboration played a leading role in the first-ever detection of an electromagnetic counterpart to a high-energy neutrino, emitted by the blazar TXS 0506+056, marking a cornerstone in the era of multi-messenger astronomy. The LAT has also enabled the discovery of gamma-ray emission from starburst galaxies, binaries, supernova remnants, and the enigmatic Fermi bubbles at the center of our Galaxy. These discoveries have profoundly deepened our understanding of cosmic particle acceleration and the extreme environments that produce high-energy radiation.
“The award recognizes the remarkable, decades-long commitment of more than two hundred international researchers—including a significant Italian contribution—who were involved first in the construction and later in the data analysis of the LAT telescope aboard the Fermi satellite. I’m proud to be part of this incredible collaboration. Long live Fermi!” said Giacomo Principe, Deputy Science Analysis Coordinator of the Fermi LAT collaboration and researcher at the University of Trieste.
The Italian Space Agency (ASI) has been supporting the Fermi mission since 2004, significantly funding its design, development, test, and in orbit calibration and data analysis. Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Fermi mission responsible for ASI, said: “The Fermi-LAT and Fermi-GBM collaborations show how gamma-ray sky observations can become cutting-edge science, thanks to state-of-the-art instruments and a shared vision among agencies, institutions, and the global scientific community.“
LAT communication about the Cocconi prize