"Science is a journey into the future" - this is the slogan of the 27th edition of the Science Festival in Warsaw on 15-29 September 2023.

As part of the Festival, researchers from the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion prepared classes for students conducted at the Institute’s premises.

Dr. Ewa Łaszyńska and Dr. Katarzyna Mikszuta-Michalik during the lesson entitled "Radiation around us" told fourth-grade primary school students in an accessible way about nuclear radiation and methods of its detection. During a visit to the Gamma Radiation Spectrometry Laboratory, participants carried out radiation measurements of products used in everyday life, including food products.

During the classes entitled Fuzor – an experiment "in practice" Dr. Piotr Chmielewski and M.Sc. Eng. Maciej Szymański explained to the students what plasma and nuclear fusion is and how the work of plasma-containing devices, such as a tokamak or a stellarator looks like. In the laboratory, high school students learned about the structure and principles of operation of a fusion reactor with electrostatic-inertial plasma maintenance of the fusor type. Students could observe, among others, the influence of gas pressure on the current-voltage characteristics and the nature of the discharge, and also measured the temperature of the reactor cathode using an optical pyrometer. Additionally, after the main meeting, the participants visited the PF1000U Laboratory.

The Warsaw Science Festival is a series of meetings with scientists who present the latest achievements, research methods and challenges for the future in an accessible way. The topics of festival meetings concern exact and natural sciences, medicine, humanities and social sciences, as well as cultural and artistic sciences. The events take the form of debates, lectures, workshops, film screenings, visits to laboratories, exhibitions, trips, competitions and educational games. The Festival also includes lessons for organized school groups at all levels of education. Events are organized by scientific, educational and cultural institutions as well as scientific associations and societies.

Photo: © IPPLM