On the last Friday of September, we opened the educational trail of the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Institutes in Ládví as part of Researchers' Night. Its interactive outdoor exhibits now show people walking by what scientists at the nearby institutes work on.
Eight stops, eight exhibits
Seven institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Ládví and Kobylisy created the trail together. Each institute contributed one exhibit about its own research, while stop number zero serves as a guide to the whole trail. In front of the Institute of Physics, visitors will find a bike wheel gyroscope and can try it themselves and feel why a spinning object resists changing its movement.
A spectroscope splits white light into the colours of the rainbow. A model of the atom shows how small the nucleus is compared to the whole atom. On the trail, you will also find, for instance, a “light trap” in the form of a waveguide, the Binary Perspective exhibit showcasing the history of computer science and a mural of Jaroslav Heyrovský and Alfred Nobel.
"These are not just boring information boards. Many of them are really interesting experiments," says FZU Director Michael Prouza. "I think the result is better than our first idea. We are really building a 'science centre in the open air'."
You can stop there on your way home from work, at the weekend with your children or with your school class. Teachers can download worksheets (so far in Czech, an English version is underway) at naucnastezka.avcr.cz.
From the trail to the labs
After the opening, the Amazing Theatre of Physics (Úžasné divadlo fyziky) performed a science show. Then the programme moved indoors. This year, the Oriental Institute of the CAS and the Heyrovský Institute of the CAS also took part in Researchers' Night.
The youngest visitors went to the FUN ZONE. They built with LEGO, made kaleidoscopes and bracelets from scintillating beads, and discovered which colours light is made of.
Older visitors went on tours of places that are usually closed to the public: the liquid crystal, electron microscopy and thin film laboratories, the optical furnace and the server room. In the Dvořák Hall, they could listen to a talk about physics in comics. After dark, our sky sphere lit up in the car park.
Thank you to all visitors and to our colleagues from FZU, the Oriental Institute and the Heyrovský Institute who helped with Researchers' Night 2026. We would also like to thank the Czech Academy of Sciences for supporting the whole educational trail and, in addition, the IOCB Foundation for its contribution to the informational panels.
Photo: Petr Sankot
