What do doughnuts have to do with energy? Can you replicate the sun here on Earth? These and much more topics will be covered at DIFFER’s open day on Saturday 3 October. During the Dutch Science Weekend, you can take a look behind the scenes at various organisations and institutions in the fields of science and technology. Also in Hotspot Eindhoven in the high-tech Brainport region.
On the first Saturday of October, visitors will have the chance to meet DIFFER’s scientists and technicians whom they can ask all sorts of questions. How does energy actually work? Why do we want to recreate the sun’s heat (and even much hotter temperatures) here on Earth? What about the current and future energy grid? How do we get clean energy when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing? Why do we need complex computer models?
Science is fun
Our main research facilities, such as the new PLD4Energy, Magnum-PSI, the Ion Beam Facility and the plasma lab, will be open to the public. Besides lectures for adults, we have lots of activities for curious children. They can learn to code, decorate (and eat) their own doughnut-shaped fusion machine and attend a Mad Science show. ASML Technology Ambassadors will show how to make a race track with magnets and our chemist will introduce them to the building blocks of the periodic system.
Science is everywhere
DIFFER is part of Hotspot Eindhoven: organisations in Eindhoven dedicated to science and technology that open their doors during Science Weekend. Hotspot Eindhoven comprises DIFFER, SintLucas, Dr. A.F. Philips Observatorium, Bibliotheek Regio Eindhoven, DJOE, Hackalot, Next Nature Museum and the Philips Museum.
The Dutch Science Weekend is an annual, nationwide event for children and adults featuring science and technology. It is organised by NEMO Science Museum on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. During Science Weekend, visitors set out to find answers to questions both big and small, and discover how science and technology influence our daily lives. More than 300 organisations across the Netherlands participate.
Open days at nine NWO institutes
During the Weekend of Science, DIFFER is one of the nine NWO institutes that will open the doors to the general public. In Amsterdam, for example, you can learn more about research into the smallest particles, solve maths puzzles and discover how researchers split a beam of light to create a spectrum of colours. In Dwingeloo, you can step inside the Milky Way, and in Nijmegen, you’ll learn more about research into levitating vehicles.
DIFFER’s open day will take place on Saturday 3 October from 12:00h to 17:00h on the TU/e campus: De Zaale 20 in Eindhoven. Admission is free and no registration is required. Further information can be found on DIFFER’s website. The full programme and more about Hotspot Eindhoven can be found on the Science Weekend website (in Dutch).
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