This year’s Family Open House at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory will take place on Sunday, February 11, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Organized by the Fermilab Education Office, the event offers free family-style hands-on activities and exhibits, make-and-take projects, science shows and tours. More than 2,000 people are expected to attend. Registration is required.
The highlights of this year’s program will include the demonstration of historic experiments originally conducted during the 18th century by Benjamin Franklin and other scientists; the popular Ask-a-Scientist session on the 15th floor of Wilson Hall; and tours of the linear accelerator. Plans for tours to additional sites are now being finalized.
“We will offer new hands-on experiments with light, electricity and magnetism,” said Spencer Pasero, an education specialist at Fermilab. “And of course we’ll have old favorites such as the gravity accelerator and Mr. Freeze’s cryogenics show.”
The event is free of charge but advance registration is required. Participants can register online at http://www-ed.fnal.gov/ffse/openhouse.html. All ages are welcome, but the open house is most appropriate for children in grade 3 and up. Tours are restricted to ages 10 and up. Contact Nancy Lanning at edreg@fnal.gov or 630-840-5588 for more information.
Fermilab is a Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory operated under contract by the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC. The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation and helps ensure U.S. world leadership across a broad range of scientific disciplines.