The event is aimed at the CERN community and CERN Alumni and Retirees, therefore physical attendance will require having a valid CERN access card.
CERN Alumni should use this form to request CERN access cards.
The authors of the "The stars' last dance" ("La Puerta de los Tres Cerrojos") will give a talk at the CERN Library:
Black holes, spacetime and gravitational waves are topics attracting the curiosity of everyone. However, while there exist several books for teenagers and adults, there are not so many books for young children. Our aim is to introduce black holes, curvature of space-time and gravitational waves to kids, boosting their imagination and triggering their interest. We have written 4 short stories with the main protagonist a young girl, Chloé, who is curious to understand on what her astrophysicist mum is working.
“Chloé and the twin stars” is the story of two twin stars at the end of their life, that do not want to be apart anymore. They dance and spun around, and they are so happy that they want to tell the other stars, so they send special messengers -- gravitational waves -- all over space. With simple examples, familiar to kids, we introduce the notion of these special messengers, their effects, with a hint on the pressure and hard work of researchers in the frontiers of science.
“Chloé at the planetarium” focuses on the life and death of stars and it takes place at the planetarium. We discuss constellations, a bit of Greek mythology, the life of stars and the shapes and properties of galaxies. This story is necessary to explain what black holes are and how they are born.
“Chloé and space-time” presents with simple examples of daily life, the structure of space-time as Chloé and her family are spending the day in the mini-golf.
“Chloé and the origin of gold” aims at describing the origin of gold, while the young protagonist, Chloé, is celebrating with her mum a successful exam in the conservatory. We also include a glossary that a parent or a teacher, who is not an astrophysicist, may use as a dictionary.
The book is aimed at children ages 10-12 years old.
The event will be followed by a Q&A and signing sessions. The book is available from the CERN Library & Bookshop in English and French.
About the authors:
Sonia Fernandez Vidal l holds a Ph.D. in Information and Quantum Optics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), where she also worked as a professor. She has collaborated and conducted research at some of the most prestigious institutions, including the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States, and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona. She is also a co-founder of the technology consulting firm Gauss & Neumann.
She is a full member of the Royal European Academy of Doctors (RAED). In 2017, Forbes magazine selected Sonia as one of the 100 most creative people in the world.
Sonia is a writer and science communicator. She is the author of the La Puerta de los Tres Cerrojos trilogy, an internationally acclaimed science outreach novel series for both children and adults, translated into 19 languages. She also wrote Quantic Love, a novel set at CERN that presents science from a more human perspective. Her book Desayuno con partículas is a popular science work on modern physics aimed at all audiences. El Universo en Tus Manos, is designed for children, introducing them to the wonders of the cosmos. Her latest book, El Origen de la Puerta de los Tres Cerrojos: La semilla de una revolución, is a prequel to the trilogy that explores the history of physics leading to the quantum revolution.
Several internationally renowned figures have endorsed her works, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, American bestselling author Ken Blanchard, scientist/futurist and Google’s Director of Engineering Raymond Kurzweil, and Spanish bestselling author Alex Rovira.