• Question: would your work be fun for us children

    Asked by Jeri to Craig, Flavia, Giuditta, Jack, Sheona on 7 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Jack Carlyle

      Jack Carlyle answered on 7 Nov 2015:

      Yes! I love going to schools to show kids the awesome videos of huge explosions on the Sun – and they always seem to love it as much as I do.

    • Photo: Flavia de Almeida Dias

      Flavia de Almeida Dias answered on 7 Nov 2015:

      I am pretty sure putting a child sitting in front of my computer and telling them to program for me would not at all be fun (for the child). But I can assure that while the technicalities on how we do my work can be a bit out of a child’s reach, the reasons why we do it and all the big picture are certainly lots of fun, for all ages.

      I believe every child has the curiosity to know why things are the way they are, and how the Universe works. Fundamental science has the aim to answer all those questions, by exploring different aspects and bits of pieces of it. And a lot of the demonstrations we make take advantage of video games, Lego building, dry ice, and eventually some simulated explosions. Who wouldn’t find all that fun?

    • Photo: Craig Bull

      Craig Bull answered on 8 Nov 2015:

      Quite often you can observe the changes which happen to everyday materials just by looking at them inside the high pressure devices – a fair number of observations can be done like that and by anyone – what is more difficult is getting the sample to high pressure in the first place (but my idea is to make a device that can be taken to schools and recreate some high pressure experiments with solid ice at room temperature).

    • Photo: Giuditta Perversi

      Giuditta Perversi answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      I really think that there are several bits of my work that would be really fun for children, I surely feel giddy and overexcited myself from time to time!

      Working in the lab to create new materials, for instance, requires a lot of hand-on tasks and even if you might end up having to repeat the experiment multiple time the feeling of it going right at some point is priceless!
      I also use a lot of big and imposing instruments that make even me feel like I am on the control dock of a space ship from time to time. If you are able to be careful and sensible, at least a bit, than it’s perfect!

      Maybe I would spare you a lot of mulling and chewing on list of numbers and graphs and values for months, because even though I really like it, it requires trainings and studies to be deal with properly and you never really finish learning it!

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