A journey towards the earth's core at the geophysical museum of rocca di papa (rome, italy)

Abstract

This paper introduces the Geophysical Museum of Rocca di Papa (Roma, Italy) where visitors can encounter a fascinating journey towards the Earth's core. The aim of the Museum, which was founded on February 26th 2005, is to make the language of Geophysics friendlier and to show the relationship between science and science fiction. The Geophysical Museum is housed in the historical Geodynamic Observatory, built in 1889 by the famous seismologist Michele Stefano De Rossi. The Museum explains the main topics of Geophysics through the use of posters, movie presentations and interactive experiments and presents the stages of scientific research that led to the modern definition of the Earth's internal model. The main focus of the Museum has been school students of all ages, with eight thousand visitors in two years. The Museum connects geophysics to the world of nature and by using science fiction techniques, shows that science is not only the product of certainty or established facts, but also the product of trials and failures. Visitors will find special importance given to seismology, with a special section of ancient and modern seismographs. There is also a room dedicated to a three-dimensional projection system where the visitor can enjoy movies about Alban Hills earthquakes to appreciate the geological evolution of volcanism in this area.