Watch the video!

Do you know how many quarks make up your body? Ever heard of ‘Spacebook’, the Facebook of particles, used by quarks and other bosons to exchange information? How would you like to view images taking you back to the dawn of the Universe? These and many more fun and educational exhibits make up CERN’s brand new travelling exhibition. The aptly named ‘Accelerating Science’ exhibition was inaugurated on 1 April at the University of Geneva as part of celebrations to mark the latter’s 450th anniversary.

The project was the brainchild of CERN’s physicists and communication group and elaborated in partnership with the University of Geneva. "The whole spirit behind the 450th anniversary celebrations is to show how our university could not survive without the links it has developed with the city and local partners such as CERN," explains Didier Raboud, Head of Geneva University’s Communication team. "This exhibition in partnership with CERN is entirely in line with that philosophy."

The exhibition has been financed by the H. Dudley Wright Foundation, which aims to promote public awareness of the sciences. At the inauguration ceremony, the President of the Wright Foundation, Jean Patry, underlined that the exhibition was wholly compatible with the Foundation’s goals and proceeded to pay a warm and ringing tribute to the research conducted at CERN. "We appreciate, acknowledge and admire the work you are doing at CERN. The people of Geneva can be proud to have you here, on their doorstep," he declared. Before cutting the ceremonial ribbon, the Rector of Geneva University, Jean-Dominique Vassalli, the CERN Director-General, Rolf Heuer, and CERN’s External Relations Coordinator, Felicitas Pauss, all made reference to the strong ties linking CERN and the University of Geneva since the Laboratory was founded in 1954.

The ‘Accelerating Science’ exhibition, built by British company Shelton Fleming, takes the form of a discovery trail along which visitors learn about particle physics, its fundamental questions and aims and the tools used for its investigation. The exhibition is laid out in five interconnecting zones, each of which plunges the visitor into a world of mystery and suspense. After passing through the entrance tunnel, visitors arrive in the first zone where a film and a mural recount the history of the Universe. The second zone is bursting with interactive exhibits revealing the world of elementary particles. The giant mushrooms in the third zone explain through sound and image the great issues of contemporary particle physics. In the next zone, visitors come face-to-face with those larger-than-life scientific tools that are the LHC machine and experiments. The last zone brings visitors back to the reality of day-to-day life, showing how fundamental physics has served and continues to serve the technological advances upon which mankind has come to depend.

Covering more than 400 square metres, the exhibition has been designed to travel through the CERN Member States. With this in mind, it has a modular design and is thus able to adapt to different venues. "The five zones can be laid out in different configurations," explains Ray Lewis, who is responsible for logistics in CERN’s Education and Public Outreach Group. In the same vein, the captions are reproduced on separate boards which can be switched for other languages. Finally, the programmes on the 24 computers dotted around the exhibition can be uploaded by Shelton Fleming for the integration of new languages or implementation of upgrades etc.

‘Accelerating Science’ will stay at Uni Dufour until 28 June before moving to the Globe of Science and Innovation for three months. Then it will be off to any Member State which requests it. "This exhibition is an invaluable tool for particle physics outreach in our Member States," explains Rolf Landua, Head of CERN’s Education and Public Outreach Group. For now, the exhibition is staying put in Geneva so you have ample time to find out everything you always wanted to know about particle physics, the history of the Universe, LHC technologies and technology transfer – but were too afraid to ask !