The Colours of Physics: A Multi-Genre Festival Bringing Besides Music an Inspiration from the World of Science
The Big Bang Stage and other stages of the festival will once again enrich the Colours of Ostrava festival with a scientific program. The 70th anniversary of CERN's founding will be commemorated by a lecture delivered by Director General Fabiola Gianotti. Dana Drábová will talk about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer. The program will feature not only speakers but also physical experiments, „singing“ elementary particles, and artistic battles with a scientific twist.
The Meltingpot Forum runs parallel to the Colours of Ostrava festival from July 17 to 20 in the Dolní Vítkovice area. The Big Bang stage is organised by the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering of the Czech Technical University (CTU FJFI), the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University (CUNI MFF), the Great World of Technology – Dolní Vítkovice, and The Big Bang Collective, with support from the CERN & Society Foundation, Science to Go, EPS, ČEZ, and IPPOG.
„This year it is particle physics that will be strongly dominating the Big Bang Stage. We will show that the creation of a big bang or a lightsaber is not just literary fiction,“ promises one of the organisers Martin Rybář from the CUNI MFF. In the lecture „May the (Strong) Force Be with You,“ he and Daniel Scheirich will demonstrate that modern CERN can in a way do all of this.
If anyone sets the rules in the field of particle physics, it is the European Laboratory for Particle Physics – CERN. „Its director, Fabiola Gianotti, will give a lecture on the Gamechangers stage on Saturday, where she will present the goals and mission with a special emphasis on the Higgs boson, its role in the early universe, and its significance to our own existence,“ adds another event organiser Jaroslav Bielčík from CTU. Other speakers at Meltingpot will include nuclear physicist and chairwoman of the State Office for Nuclear Safety, Dana Drábová, who will discuss the life of Robert J. Oppenheimer, who led the development of the first atomic bomb under the Manhattan Project.
The Big Bang Stage will not only offer lectures but also physics theatre, slam poetry with a scientific twist, and Raw Art Wrestling – a battle between two teams of illustrators where illustrations will be created right before the audience's eyes using graphic tablets. Teachers Vít Boček and Tereza Fürstová will show twenty experiments that will engage all the senses.
Part of the four-day program will also include a dark matter hunt with young scientist Marek Matas, and a grand debate on the challenges of cosmology. Under the guidance of scientist Steven Goldfarb, visitors will listen to melodies based on data from high-energy collisions of cosmic muons or protons in the Large Hadron Collider.
The complete program is available on the festival website.
Based on the FNSPE CTU Press release
