The Institute of Physics took part at Researchers’ Festival also in 2018. And it had a lot of visitors! The event, which was held at Vítězné náměstí, in Prague 6, on the 5th of September 2018, received more than 17 000 visitors who wished to learn more about research, its practical application and new technologies.
The Institute of Physics introduced a number of specialised work stations at their trade show booth, where individual research areas of the Institute of Physics were presented through a series of experiments or demonstration instruments. A logical game, enjoyed by children and adults, for example, was used to present a laser as a unique source of light.
Visitors got to know what paths of protons, alpha particles, electrons and mions look like, as demonstrated by particle tracking in the mist chamber, or they learned how modern detectors and data processing systems function at the LHC accelerator or in Pierre Auger and CTA observatories.
They checked out a wound-healing process using low-temperature plasma functions or create rainbow nanolayers from nail polish, the latter of which was particularly enjoyed by children. They got to know what nanolayers have in common with the colour blue found on the wings of a butterfly genus Morpho and how such thin layers may be utilized in, for example, the manufacture of more efficient solar cells.
Matching cards, with formulas on them, or a popular publication on biology and magnetism around us, written by researchers of the FZU, were enjoyed especially by students and teachers.
The Researchers' Festival or an Entertaining Sci-fi Lab at Kulaťák is a one-day event, held in the open air, at Vítězné náměstí in Prague 6. The festival, which has been held for six years now, is a joint initiative of universities, academia and leisure-time organisations, bringing together more than 100 presenters and 15 000 visitors. The number of individual Institutes of Academy of Sciences has steadily been growing – along with the Institute of Physics, 4 other Institutes came last year; 10 of them this year.
More information about the festival is available at http://www.festival-vedy.cz/.