Dark Matter: the glue that holds the universe together
Elena Aprile, Centennial Professor of Physics (Columbia University)
in coversation with Claudio Pagliara, Director of the ICI-NY
Dark matter remains one of the greatest mysteries in modern physics. Few scientists are better positioned to describe the state of the art than Professor Elena Aprile, a pioneering leader in the search for dark matter and a driving force behind major underground experiments hosted at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, carried out in collaboration with nearly 200 researchers worldwide.
On February 19 at 6:00 PM, we are delighted to welcome Professor Elena Aprile to as part of The Courage to Dream lecture series.
For the first time, the general public—along with students and early-career scientists—will have the opportunity to learn why dark matter is so important, what we have discovered so far, and what comes next. The talk will conclude with an open Q&A, giving attendees the chance to ask Professor Aprile their questions directly.
Join us for an inspiring evening at the frontiers of physics.
Dark Matter makes 85% of the matter in the Universe yet its nature remains a mystery despite ongoing efforts with a variety of experiments on Earth and in space. An answer to this fundamental question will revolutionize physics and cosmology. A most promising approach is to directly detect a Dark Matter signal in an ultra-low background terrestrial detector. Among dark matter direct detection
Biography:
Professor Elena Aprile is a Centennial Professor of Physics and, since July 2025, Director of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University. She is an experimental physicist recognized worldwide for her pioneering work with liquid xenon imaging detectors and their application in astrophysics and dark matter direct detection. She is the founder and spokesperson for the XENON project which has been at the forefront of the field for more than fifteen years, with groundbreaking results which have constrained a variety of dark matter models. Aprile was born in Milano, Italy. She received the “Laurea” in physics from the University of Naples, Italy and the PhD in physics from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She was a postdoctoral schlar at Harvard University before joining the physics faculty at Columbia Universoty. She also received a Doctor of Philosophy degree “honoris causa” from Stockholm University. Professor Aprile is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a memeber of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Physical Society. She is the 2019 recipient of the Lancelot Berkley Prize of the Astronomical Society and the 2021 recipient of the Enrico Fermi Prize of the Italian Physical Society.
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