


Be ready to dive deep into the very nature of spacetime and matter as Prof. Freya Blekman and Prof. Ben Craps reveal the most inner parts of ourselves and of the fabric of the cosmos; and no, this is no science fiction! In this event, Particle Physics will take the stage to enlighten us about the secrets of the (very) small. Understanding the players (particles) and the arena (spacetime) where the actions of nature develop is still one of the most profound mysteries in today's Science. Let's light a candle in the dark!
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, what, why and how?
Freya Blekman
Research Professor in elementary particle physics
BeH, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, CERN
Ever wondered about why the 27 kilometer Large Hadron Collider was built and what scientists do with it? Then this is the talk for you! The collider is the Swiss army knife of experiments, and investigates anything from new particles and forces to the birth of the universe. As one of the physicists who built the enormous detectors that record the collisions of the Large Hadron Collider, Prof. Dr. Freya Blekman will not only convince you that particle physics is necessary and interesting for everyone (including tax payers), but also on the fun and social aspects of this exceptional human effort to understand the building blocks of matter.

What is spacetime made of?
Ben Craps
Professor
Vrije Universiteit Brussel & International Solvay Institutes
We don’t usually think of space -- let alone time -- as made of something. There are good reasons to believe, however, that at very small distances spacetime ceases to be smooth and should be thought of in terms of more elementary constituents. Recent ideas from string theory suggest that the fundamental building block might be quantum entanglement, a notion Einstein referred to as “spooky action at a distance”. Exploring these ideas and where they come from will take us on a tour involving black holes, strings, quantum entanglement and wormholes.
