On 18-27 September, the 24th Science Festival was held in Warsaw. Traditionally, the program of the event included several hundred meetings with science: main debates, evening gatherings, meetings for children and teenagers, exhibitions and festival lessons for schools. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, some of the live lectures and demonstrations were available online, some were previously recorded and shared through the YouTube platform.
The Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, as it was the case also in the past, participated in this event.
Dr Paweł Gąsior conducted a lesson entitled "Lasers: the music of light" in one of Warsaw's schools. The eighth grade students learned, among others, what is the difference between "ordinary" and laser light as well as what are the possibilities and applications of different types of lasers, and finally the safety rules of their handling.
If you want to get acquainted with the lesson of Dr Paweł Gąsior, recorded in the Laboratory of Laser-Induced Plasma Spectroscopy in the IPPLM, visit the Science Festival website.
Another lesson, this time online, was conducted by Tomasz Fornal, M.Sc. The lecture entitled "Nuclear fusion, or a short story on how to bring the Sun to the Earth" made it possible for students to learn about several main ways how to obtain electricity, what the fusion reaction is all about and what conditions must be met to carry it out in laboratory conditions. They also got acquainted with the most important nuclear fusion projects in Poland and all over the world.
The Science Festival in Warsaw was initiated by the scientific community of the University of Warsaw, the Warsaw University of Technology and the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1996. The first edition took place a year later. As part of the festival, more than one hundred scientific and educational institutions, institutions promoting culture, associations and scientific societies invite enthusiasts to join their meetings.
Photo: © IFPiLM
