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Particle Fever movie still

Athena Cinema Gets “Particle Fever”


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Science and art are often separated in our everyday lives. For the third time this spring, the Athena Cinema will provide moviegoers with an opportunity to experience both— through its Science on Screen movie series.

The events pair a short talk with a scientist or technology expert with a film.

On Tuesday, April 15 at 7 p.m., David Ingram of Ohio University will give a short presentation on his work before a screening of Particle Fever. The event will be free and open to the public and free popcorn will be available for the first 50 people attending.

Ingram is a nuclear experimentalist and professor and chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. His research includes growing new electronic and optical materials and studying their properties. He is the past director of the John E. Edwards Accelerator Lab, which is part of the Institute for Nuclear and Particle Physics.

Before the film, Ingram will talk about the basic science of the “smallest” particles, as well as the scales by which energy and matter are studied at many levels by physicists.

“One thing I find fascinating about the movie Particle Fever is the theme of what has transpired during the 50 years since Peter Higgs made a prediction. What we’re seeing here is history in the making and how real research is being done,” Ingram said.

Particle Fever is a documentary by physicist-turned-filmmaker, Mark Levinson. With the help of legendary film editor, Walter Murch, he follows six brilliant scientists during the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, marking the start of the biggest experiment in the history of the planet.

As they seek the keys to unlocking the very building blocks of physics, the six protagonists join more than 10,000 other scientists in pursuit of a single goal: to recreate conditions that existed just moments after the Big Bang and find the Higgs boson, the particle that would explain the origins of all matter.

The Science on Screen series will resume during OU’s Fall Semester. The next event slated to take place will be a talk by Russ Professor of Chemical Engineering Srdjan Nesic.

Nesic is also director of the Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology at Ohio University. His talk will be paired with a screening of the Academy Award winning, Paul Thomas Anderson film, There Will Be Blood.

For information, visit www.athenacinema.com.