Many might remember the phrase ‘god particle’ (the nickname for Higgs boson particle) when its existence was confirmed in 2012. Now, people in India will be able to see how exactly the particle accelerator works. The Swiss-based European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) of the god particle fame will be bringing the largest particle accelerator in the world as part of its travelling exhibition named ‘Accelerating Science’, which will travel inside India.
This is the first time the CERN travelling exhibition conducted across the world is being held in India. It will be launched in Mumbai in May and will conclude in Delhi in March 2020. It aims to attract lakhs of school and college students in addition to science enthusiasts and the general public.
The exhibition will be in Mumbai from the first week of May to the first week of July, in Bengaluru from the last week of July to the last week of September, in Kolkata from the first week of November to the last week of December and in New Delhi from the third week of January to the third week of March 2020.
The science exhibition will be jointly hosted and funded in India by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Science and Technology (DST). The exhibition will be displayed at National Council of Science Museum venues. In Bengaluru, it will be at Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum.
The mega science projects in the exhibition include CERN, Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), India Neutrino Observatory (INO), Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), Square Kilometer Array telescope (SKA), The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).
Working models of these projects, as well as posters, banners, interactive pods and material hailing India's contribution to research and development of mega science projects, will be included in the exhibitions.
There will also be seminars, academic interactions and industry events alongside the main exhibition which will be conducted by renowned scientists involved in India's mega science projects. Students of any age group and visitors of any background are encouraged to attend this series of exhibitions and learn about the exhibits. The exhibition is aimed to inspire and motivate general public and young students into fundamental science and technology.
The exhibition organisers are encouraging Indian university students to apply to become volunteers at the exhibition and interested applicants can apply here.
The students selected will undergo training by science experts at the exhibition and will also explain the projects and demonstrate working models to the public. The organisers are also looking for volunteers to run the exhibition stalls who are pursuing or have completed a B.E/B.Tech/B.Sc/M.Sc/M.Tech/
(The author, Dr Aswin Sekhar, is an Indian scientist who proposed and initiated the CERN India multi-venue exhibition project)