September 28 and 29, from 9:00 to 20:00, CERN is going to open its doors to the public once again. This is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to visit dozens of experimental setups and get to see what is happening in the world’s largest particle physics laboratory. All of that free of charge.
A group of visitors discovering the CMS detector during the Open Days in 2008
There will be unique opportunities to go underground and see the detectors operating at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) where the Higgs boson was discovered (ATLAS and CMS), where we explore what happened an instant after the Big Bang (ALICE) and where the Standard Model is being refined with unprecedented precision (LHCb). Visitors will also have the opportunity to discover several other experiments where we probe the world of antimatter (AD), the puzzling mystery of dark matter (AMS) or look inside protons (COMPASS) to name but a few of them.
Just about every aspect of the laboratory will be open to the visitors, from the computing centre to the workshops, the cryogenics and metrology laboratories and the accelerators.
The cryogenic demonstrations fascinate everyone
There will be hands-on setups for kids, introductory lectures for the most inquisitive ones and fun for everyone. Take your pick. This will be a day to remember.
The programme is already online. The underground visits are reserved to people 12 years and older and subject to strict quotas. So you will need to reserve in advance. Free tickets will be available around August 15 so keep an eye for it (I will be on vacation and unable to remind you). This will guarantee that every one spends their time playing and not queuing.
I hope many of you will be among the 100 000 people we will have the pleasure to welcome.
Taking a maximum of people down underground. The quotas are determined by the elevators capacity
Pauline Gagnon
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