The Institute of Physics (FZU) was the biggest exhibitor at the popular Science Fair the second year in a row. Inside the FZU exposition, the visitors from the general public could penetrate into the world of light and environmentally-friendly technologies. But also lovers of elementary particles and low-temperature plasma got to their element.
The Science Fair was first held in 2015 and it quickly became the biggest popularization event of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the fastest growing fair in the country. This year the number of visitors have first exceeded 30 000. From 6th to 8th June they had a chance to visit more than 100 different expositions at PVA EXPO PRAHA in Letňany.
The main topic of the FZU exposition with more than 15 stands was light, its substance and use. It was, therefore, possible to see exhibits representing the most intensive lasers located in ELI and HiLASE centres in Dolní Břežany or an infinity mirror, most of the stands were, moreover, interactive. By means of diffraction glasses, visitors could see the composition of light from different sources of light and the majority of them did not hesitate and made their own hand-held spectroscopes for the same purpose. They could take them home – and we hope they will use them for further interesting research.
It was also mainly children who appreciated the possibility to make a bracelet for UV radiation detection and trains, cockroaches and spiders powered by light. In the meantime, adults could, for example, find out how FZU works in the area of development of modern solar panels and economical LED diodes and bulbs. Those with adventurous nature could again visit the popular laser labyrinth and not only the presenters but also visitors were amused by T-shirts and stickers with the motto “Fakt Zábavnej Ústav” referring to the FZU abbreviation and meaning “Really Amusing Institute”.
The stand of the cosmological group CEICO was a place of varied discussions – what does matter consist of on the elementary level? And is the String Theory still a promising direction, how macro and micro worlds are interconnected and what will happen with the Universe in the future? Those interested in astrophysics and fundamental physics got acquainted also with foreign institutes where FZU participates in research. They had thus a chance to learn the life story of the Universe or to go on a virtual tour of ATLAS experiment in CERN.
Apart from the programme described, the Fair offered a number of other exciting things from physics and other fields of science in the form of displays, lectures and panel discussions. Historians showed the production of medieval weapons. Finalists of the Horizon Grand Prix competition arrived at the site and competed in the race of hydrogen-powered model cars of their own production. Experts across scientific fields joined forces in an attractive discussion on what parallels can be found between real light and the cult series Game of Thrones.
More photos from the event are available on our Facebook