ATLAS Virtual Visits
The Virtual Visits programmes pioneered by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations use videoconferencing to communicate with schools and remote events around the globe. The goal of these programmes is to break down geographical barriers and allow more people to enter the world of science, physics and particle physics. This supports local education and outreach activities by enable the public, especially young people, to become engaged in and understand the field of particle physics through direct dialogue between scientists and remote audiences.
Both collaborations have hosted Virtual Visits for thousands of people from each continent with participants connecting from locations such as Kathmandu, Rio de Janeiro, Ghana, Riyadh, and even the South Pole.
Audiences were initially mainly made up of high-school students and their teachers, but now include policy makers and the general public through festivals.
On the ATLAS collaboration web site : https://atlas.cern/discover/visit/virtual-visit
TALKS
- Talk @ DPF 2015 conference
- 2014 Conference proceedings paper : Bringing the world into the ATLAS control room
- US-CERN Virtual Visits: Building Transcontinental Connections for High Energy Physics - DPF 2017 slides
- ATLAS and CMS Virtual Visits: Bringing Cutting Edge Science into the Classroom and Beyond - ATL-OREACH-PROC-2016-003
This project allows scientists to "jump in schools". A possible extension is of course to invite the groups in a "remote control room" in any institute, and connect lab activities to "what happens on site". After all, this is how scientists work daily, isn't it ?
Leading this project for a couple of years was hard work but an excellent training and source of endless inspiration.
