Total success in 'La Ciencia Encendida', the pre-event of the European Night of the Researchers

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Researchers and the organizer team were so nervous a few minutes before La Casa Encendida opened its doors. Would it be all ok? At 10 AM o'clock, students entered the well-known cultural centre in Madrid, and 'La Ciencia Encendida' began. It is a pre-event of the European Research Night that the CSIC centers in Cantoblanco celebrated this year and the conclusion was clear: total success. 

Around 300 people (students, teachers, and researchers) joined last Friday, 23 September, to celebrate Science with workshops, scientific presentations that raised ovations, and an interesting gymkhana about Nobel women that surprised children and adults. 

The day began at 10 AM with school children and finished at 2 PM with High School students. During the event, we were able to learn how to decontaminate with natural materials, how to do urban mining, the origin of light (chemically speaking), the magic of superconductivity, the differences between glass and crystals (with gifts included), the secrets of ceramics (beyond earthenware pitcher), how catalysts and hydrogen batteries work... and even to play with the great game of the periodic table.

More than 240 students from Virgen de Europa (Boadilla del Monte), Vicente Aleixandre (Alcorcón), La Natividad, Sagrado Corazón Padres Capuchinos de Usera, Stella Maris La Gavia y el IES Pradolongo (all those last from Madrid) were the lucky ones who got some of the places that were offered for this activity. All of them seemed to be clear about their luck in being in the activity, and they enjoyed it to the fullest.

Silence dominated in the workshops, where the students looked almost spellbound at the scientists who, with the most didactic and familiar language, explained the secrets of science. "I have discovered that science is useful for something, to know that we have to take care of the planet," Mohammed, a student at the Vicente Aleixandre school, commented at the end.

Like many others, the workshop he liked the most was "the ghost workshop", an activity in which Estrella Sánchez and Álvaro Blanco showed the fascinating phenomenon of the levitation of a superconductor and its magnetic and electrical properties. In fact, it was in this workshop, at each turn, when a "wow" sound broke the silence with which the students watched the rest of the activities. It is not that the others did not enjoy them, it is that they directly left them speechless. "I liked everything," said a cheerful Lola Hernández, 10 years old and also a student at the Vicente Aleixandre school. "Science is cool, it's fun," she added.

At 12 it was the adults' turn—students from 3rd year of ESO to Scientific Baccalaureate. Different backgrounds to join when learning and enjoying some exciting workshops. You could see it in their faces, their body expressions, and, of course, their dedication to all activities: the gymkhana became a party and healthy competition that brought out the best in everyone involved.

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"It is essential that students have contact with real science," commented Germán Menéndez, professor at the SEC Stella Maris La Gavia. He took his Science Baccalaureate students to this activity which, in his own words, "motivates them a lot, helps them learn." Students of La Natividad, who were around 3rd and 4th of ESO, enjoyed it no less. Moreover, some of the students recognized that thanks to this day, they were feeling that science was different and even now they wanted to dedicate themselves to it. Science is no longer something distant, it is something you see day to day: "It has to do with everything we do in life," commented one attendee.

In addition to workshops, all the students gathered around the already famous Escape Road, the gymkhana about women researchers who have won the Nobel Prize in scientific disciplines, or its equivalents in Mathematics (Abel Prize and Fields Medal). An activity in which they work as a team to discover the names of essential women in the history of science, despite the fact that they are less known. It starts with Marie Curie, but it continues to this day because the pioneers continue to be pioneers.

Indeed, their faces said it all. The door of La Casa Encendida was closed, but this Friday, September 30, the CSIC headquarters (Calle Serrano, 117) will open, where this time almost 1,000 people will be gathered by this group of research centers to show, once again, that telling about science is worth it. And a lot.

-- Ángela R. Bonachera (ICMM Comunication)