Young chemistry enthusiasts visit GSI/FAIR
20.07.2022 |
A visit to GSI and FAIR marked the end of an excursion lasting several days for young people in grades 8 to 10. The 35 students from Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are participants of the national Chemistry Olympiad of the middle school and had qualified in a multi-stage selection process for the third round of the competition "Chemie – die stimmt!”.
The guests were welcomed by Jutta Leroudier from the Public Relations Department and Thomas Neff from the Theory Department, who was also a participant in the Chemistry Olympiad more than 30 years ago. After an introductory presentation on past research successes, current experiments and the status of the FAIR project, the program included a tour of the construction site platform and various research facilities. “It is a unique opportunity for the young people enthusiastic about chemistry to experience the large experiments and particle accelerators of GSI/FAIR, on site, to get an impression of the dimension of the experiments and to experience the discovery site of six chemical elements,” Marco Dörsam, the organizer of the excursion and state representative of the competition, was pleased.
After the official program of the visit, things got exciting for the young people once again. The team of supervisors around Marco Dörsam announced the winners of the individual competition categories. During the excursion, the students completed a theoretical exam and conducted comprehensive experiments in small groups. During this selection process, a total of ten young people qualified for the national final in Leipzig in September. “From now on, the excursion to GSI/FAIR will be a fixed program item in the 3rd selection round of the chemistry competition and we are happy that with GSI/FAIR we can offer such an excellent venue for our young people who are enthusiastic about chemistry,” says Marco Dörsam. (JL)
