31.10.2011

Open Day and Science Night: more than 13 000 visitors satisfied their curiosity at DESY

Science Festival at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY: until midnight, thousands of curious people flocked to the DESY campus in Hamburg Bahrenfeld. The DESY Open Day and Science Night census counted a total of 13621 visitors. Thus, two out of three participants of the 4^th Hamburg Science Night also came to DESY. “I am glad that so many people took the opportunity to see and get informed about our research and even tried out for themselves some of the experiments,”  said Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors. “This is a great success for DESY.”

Hamburg Science Senator Dr. Dorothee Stapelfeldt and Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors Prof. Helmut Dosch visit an experimental station at the accelerator ring PETRA III.

Visitors could gain insight into work at DESY at more than 60 attractions. They were fascinated by numerous highlights including the tunnel of Germany’s largest accelerator HERA, the Hamburg X-ray laser FLASH or the huge experimental hall of PETRA III. The first visitors already came before the official opening at 12 noon and the last ones a quarter to midnight.

Not only top-level research interested many people, also activities of the DESY workshops and the school lab were very popular among both young and old. There was the possibility to monitor a huge hall crane, saw tree grates, get ones own Bobby Car driving distance measured with a laser or make a vacuum experiment with a chocolate marshmallow in a preserving jar. About 850 helpers explained DESY to guests, distributed 21600 gummi bear bags, 4400 balloons and 3000 apples with a DESY logo on it. More than 1000 young scientists took a rally through the FLASH X-ray laser hall winning a PIXI book special edition about DESY.

More than 20 000 people participated in the 4th Hamburg Science Night. DESY was one of 45 science facilities opening their doors to the public. “I am glad that so many universities and research facilities took part in this event,” said Hamburg Science Senator Dr. Dorothee Stapelfeldt (SPD) who also visited DESY. The response to this wide range of attractions shows the great interest of citizens in science and research. “I am especially pleased about the large number of children and young people who made use of this opportunity together with their parents.”