The Pop-Up-Store of the University of Graz installed in Herrengasse from April 21 to June 15, 2022 offered numerous possibilities for the public to meet with scientists and to exchange ideas across all disciplines. Also the Institute of Physics at the Karl-Franzens-University offered a wide range of activities making current research accessible to a broad audience.
During the entire event, intriguing aspects of physics research were presented in the form of artistic posters in order to create an appealing seed for exciting discussions. The images used for this purpose were compiled from a wide variety of scientific areas and thus provided a broad overview of the research at the Institute of Physics. The graphics, described with short texts, can also be viewed in the corridors of the institute in the future.
In addition to these permanently installed elements, a workshop on “The colors of light – from a CD to a spectrometer” was organized by members of the OpNaQ group and presented to school classes. Together with the school students the following questions were discussed:
- What’s the color of white light?
- How are colors of light created?
- And what does all of this have to do with CDs?
After a short lecture, the students had the opportunity to build their own spectrometer using cardboard and a CD.
Furthermore, the Faculty Didactics Center for Natural Sciences and Mathematics (DINAMA) invited interested school and university students to the BuddyScience-Quiz. In mixed teams, they discussed exciting science questions, and campus life.
Last but not least, interested visitors could also listen to exciting details regarding neutron stars in a short lecture with a video contribution created by Andreas Windisch and subsequent discussion with master’s students from Theoretical Particle Physics.
The activities at the Pop-Up-Store have already led to further inquiries by various schools. Overall, the Pop-Up-Store activities of the Institute of Physics were a great success.
Contact:
Peter Banzer (peter.banzer(at)uni-graz.at)
Claudia Haagen-Schützenhöfer (claudia.haagen(at)uni-graz.at)
Reinhard Alkofer (reinhard.alkofer(at)uni-graz.at)
Links:
https://popupstore.uni-graz.at/de/
https://physik.uni-graz.at/de/fachbereich-physikdidaktik-und-fdz-physik/neuigkeiten/detail/article/buddyscience-im-pop-up-store-1-1/
https://physik.uni-graz.at/de/optik-von-nano-und-quantenmaterialien/
Videos:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15Fbyi2SV8ltJakKSgXSQ3l8Ocxm0odnS?usp=sharing