CERN exhibition a big hit in Bulgaria

In the first ever CERN exhibition to be held in Bulgaria, over 1,400 visitors, many of them students and young physicists, visited the 10-day event in Sofia.

The CERN mini-exhibition took place at the National Earth and Mankind Museum between 8 and 17 November. Permanently staffed by young physicists from Sofia University, there were exhibits on display about research activities at CERN, as well as four additional posters describing Bulgaria's participation.

The inauguration took place on the morning of 8 November in the presence of the Vice-Minister for Science and Education, Mrs. Vanya Dobreva, and some 200 guests. A series of short speeches were followed by a visit to the exhibition. CERN's representative at the event, Ray Lewis, was then asked by Professor Matey Mateev, President of the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria, to say a few words on behalf of the Organization. Numerous journalists were also present at the inauguration.

A painting entitled The Large Hadron Collider was displayed at the exhibition. In addition, a series of CERN films was shown continuously in an adjoining hall.

The exhibition organised by Matey Mateev gave CERN the opportunity to present the Laboratory and the LHC project for the first time in Bulgaria. It also underlined the important contribution Bulgarian physicists are making towards the LHC and CERN experiments.

Other VIPs at the inauguration included Dancho Elenkov, Vice-President of the State Agency for Nuclear Safety, and Jordan Stamenov, Director of the Institute for Nuclear Research and Energy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.