Outreach
Researchers come out at midnight
30 Sep 2019
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Ruxandra Pilsiu
Once a year, after night has fallen, 22,000 researchers from 28 European countries quit their laboratories to showcase the diversity of science and highlight the impact of research on our daily lives.
Presenting science in an understandable way: ITER physicist Greg de Temmerman pulls up a chair to explain ITER and fusion to an audience of all ages.
A wide variety of science is always on display. This year, 3D food printing in Cork (Ireland), a robot show in Sibiu (Romania), virtual reality in Tampere (Finland), or fusion in Marseille were just a few of the multitude of projects proposed to 1.5 million visitors of all ages.
On Friday 27 September, for the fourth time in Marseille, 100 French researchers gathered at the concert venue "Dock des Suds." In the total dark, 1,000+ visitors were invited to step into a huge discovery space that included a cinema, games, a "speed search" space for interacting directly with researchers, and a "capsule" where time had stopped in 2049.
Displays, interactive exhibits, hands-on experiments, time capsules ... European Researchers' Night allows the public to enter into the world of the researcher and come away fascinated, informed and in awe about the ways in which science positively affects our lives. In Marseille, France, over 1,000 people attended.
Greg de Temmerman was invited to spread the word about fusion in The Objects Lab. Three clues were exposed; from these the public had to conduct an investigation to discover Greg's daily job as a plasma physicist. Close to midnight, the mystery was solved in a public conference, as the main principles of fusion, the role of a tokamak, and ITER were revealed.
European Researchers' Night is a program funded by the European Commission with the aim of engaging the public in celebrating the latest and most innovative research at local and international levels.