You are here

Physicists Wow Theatre Guests

04 June 2014

The Vancouver International Film Festival brought back the documentary "Particle Fever" for a five-day run at the VanCity Theatre in Vancouver from May 16 to 21.  The documentary "... gives us the... as-it-happens front-row seat to our generation’s most significant and inspiring scientific breakthrough—the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, near Geneva, built to recreate conditions that existed just moments after the Big Bang and to potentially explain the origin of all matter. Following a team of brilliant scientists, Levinson—aided by master editor Walter Murch—crafts a celebration of discovery while revealing the very human stories behind this epic machine."  Particle Fever has been a surprising hit amongst documentary theatregoers worldwide.

On opening night, ATLAS-Canada physicists Dr. Anadi Canepa and Dr. Oliver Stelzer-Chilton (TRIUMF) and Prof. Dugan O'Neil (SFU) were brought on stage after the show for a panel discussion hosted by Theresa Liao (UBC Physics and Astronomy).  The group brought their own stories to the capacity crowd about their experiences at the front lines during the epic voyage to discover the Higgs boson. The audience Q&A was very lively, with guests asking very knowledgeable questions that kept the panelists on their toes.  Liao finally had to bring the evening to a close with no end to audience questions in sight.  Fortunately, an informal social gathering after the event allowed patrons to ask any burning questions they had remaining. 

 

–Marcello Pavan, Outreach Coordinator