Science at your fingertips

The reservations for this day of discovery at EPFL were snapped up at the same rate as tickets for the best summer festivals. Farnaz Moser, in charge of the unit responsible for promoting sciences to young people, and which organized the event, still can’t believe it: “On-line reservation was available at 6 a.m., and by 11 a.m. there wasn’t a single place left!” Thus 81 classes from schools in the whole of French-speaking Switzerland arrived on the campus, which was mobilized and ready to welcome them.

Handling, creating, participating

In order to satisfy the curiosity of the many young visitors, aged from 11 to 13, in addition to lectures and shows, the emphasis was on hands-on workshops. This year, a total of over thirty activities have been organized, many of which featured innovation. Some immersed themselves in the world of submarines and tackled various physics laws such as Archimedes' principle. Other students were able to follow the life cycle of a raindrop or discover interactive paper. Yet others chose to program a Lego robot or learned to artificially generate a flash of lightning: with thrills guaranteed!



The international year of chemistry

The magic of the various materials, questions about the environment, the weather, medical imaging, life sciences, computer science or even architecture were but a few examples of the many activities on offer. When they registered, the classes had very difficult choices to make: they could only select one workshop, one lecture and one show. A bit frustrating perhaps, but in one day it wouldn’t be possible to tackle everything.
On the occasion of the international year of chemistry, five workshops and shows have been organized. Among them, one designed to attract those more interested in food. They had the delicious experience of extracting essential oil from oranges and using it to flavor chocolate. As for the chemistry show, on stage it elaborated strange fusions and set off impressive pyrotechnic reactions – the spectators were bowled over! Five shows during the day and always the same momentum, as Farnaz Moser emphasizes: “A big thanks to all the scientists, professors and students who get involved each year for this day of discovery. This demands a lot of commitment but I know they do it happily and with the feeling of transmitting and sharing their passion.”

Discovering sciences the whole year long



If you cannot go to EPFL, EPFL will come to you! The unit in charge of promoting sciences to young people proposes all kinds of activities. Its bus Les sciences, ça m’intéresse ! (Science is interesting!) drives around the region and stops in schoolyards. Workshops are open to girls and boys alike are regularly organized at EPFL. And the Centre Roberta, inaugurated two years ago, enables teenagers to learn about information and communication technologies through the use of robotics.