On Saturday, 7 October, CERN inaugurated its brand new centre for education and outreach, CERN Science Gateway. From Sunday, 8 October onwards, CERN Science Gateway welcomed its first visitors, who explored the exhibitions and state-of-the-art lab facilities, enjoyed science shows and the sunshine on the piazza and took a break in the Big Bang Café.
“It’s nice to see concepts we’re familiar with being applied to particle physics, a field we don’t know,” said two computer science students from Canada, who visited Science Gateway as part of their tour of Switzerland.
“I really like all the games I can try out!” said a seven-year-old from Switzerland, visiting with his family. His father added, “The exhibitions are really well-made and definitely worth visiting.”
“I don’t really know anything about physics – I’m a pre-law student,” said a student from Canada, visiting Science Gateway with her mother. “But we’d heard about CERN and wanted to check it out while we were in Geneva. It’s really interesting to learn about it and I like how interactive it is.”
Scroll through the photos below to see some of the highlights from the opening week.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, 7 October, officially declaring CERN Science Gateway open. From left to right: Eliezer Rabinovici, President of the CERN Council, Alain Berset, President of the Swiss Confederation, Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director-General, John Elkann, Chair of Stellantis, and Renzo Piano, architect of CERN Science Gateway. (Image: CERN)
An inauguration ceremony was held on the morning of 7 October in CERN Science Gateway’s brand new 900-seat auditorium. The ceremony was attended by the President of the Swiss Confederation, delegates from CERN’s Member and Associate Member States, the project’s donors, invited guests and the press. Pictured speaking is CERN Director-General, Fabiola Gianotti, opening the inauguration ceremony. (Image: CERN)
Throughout Saturday, 7 October, high-school students from the CERN-Solvay camp and children of the CERN community enthusiastically all guests, explaining the science in the exhibitions and demonstrating the new lab facilities. At the end of the day, they were invited up on stage and thanked for their hard work. (Image: CERN)
Children from the CERN community demonstrate that when particles are accelerated in the LHC, the magnetic impulses must be sent at a very precise moment, in this hands-on experiment in the “Discover CERN: Accelerate” exhibition. (Image: CERN)
A student demonstrates a hands-on activity in the new lab facilities to the President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset. (Image: CERN)
The piazza on the afternoon of 7 October. To the left is the auditorium, and to the right is the new visitor reception, the CERN shop and the Big Bang Café. Solar panels on the roof and trees around the site help to make the new buildings carbon-neutral. (Image: CERN)
Entertainment on the sunny piazza on Saturday, 7 October. (Image: CERN)
Visitors explore the “Discover CERN: Collide” exhibition. This installation shows how CERN processes data, against a backdrop of one of the LHC detectors. (Image: CERN)
Visitors on Sunday, 8 October discover the “Our Universe: Exploring the Unknown” exhibition. This exhibition invites visitors to contemplate the Universe through four works of art from former Arts-at-CERN artists, inspired by physics concepts. (Image: CERN)
Visitors on Sunday, 8 October explore the “Quantum World” exhibition. Various interactive games demonstrate the bizarre behaviours of particles at the quantum level. (Image: CERN)
Visitors in the “Discover CERN: Collide” exhibition explore a tactile mock-up of one of the LHC detectors. (Image: CERN)
The “Our Universe: Back to the Big Bang” exhibition features a timeline where visitors can journey back to the beginning of the Universe, as well as games where visitors can create stars and antimatter. (Image: CERN)
