CERN70

The Science Week: MEET THE UNIVERSE, hosted by the Institute of High Energy Physics (HEPHY) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) in cooperation with the Stefan Meyer Institute of the ÖAW, took place from June 13 to June 19, 2024, at Museumsquartier, 1070 Vienna.

For an entire week, visitors had the opportunity to explore the universe in an exciting way. The interactive exhibition Searching for Clues – The Building Blocks of the Universe offered insights into modern particle physics and cosmology. Interested visitors learned about the structure of matter and the processes set in motion by the Big Bang. Generations of physicists have addressed the major questions of particle physics over the decades, such as the discovery of the Higgs particle at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva.

A fascinating supporting program was available, with workshops for school classes, guided tours, lectures, and Science Cafes, catering to an audience of all ages.

Programme

Interactive Exhibition “Searching for Clues – The Building Blocks of the Universe” From June 13 to 19, 2024, the HEPHY “Searching for Clues” exhibition was held at Museumsquartier, Ovalhalle, 1070 Vienna. This complex research field was vividly and comprehensibly presented for interested visitors of all ages, covering topics from the origin of the universe to the standard model of particle physics, from the search for the Higgs particle to the structure of matter. The exhibition also explained the fascinating technology developed and built to explore the smallest building blocks of the universe. Visitors learned how a particle accelerator works, why gigantic detectors are needed, who the researchers are working on these fundamental questions, and what the future of particle physics might look like.

Public Evening “70 Years of CERN” On June 15, 2024, at 6:00 PM, a special event took place at Museumsquartier, Libelle, 1070 Vienna, commemorating “70 Years of CERN.” Prof. Ursula Bassler, a particle physicist and former President of the CERN Council, provided insights into research at CERN, its history, and its role as an international scientific organization. She explained the tasks of researchers at CERN and in the member states in exploring the fundamental laws of the universe. Attendees learned about the construction of research infrastructure such as the LHC accelerator at CERN, aimed at tracing the smallest building blocks of the universe. Prof. Bassler’s lecture detailed how the detection of the Higgs particle was achieved and discussed the mysteries that remain to be solved.