Science on the big screen and on the stage

3 November, 2016 News

Among all manifestations of science presented at the Athens Science Festival, documentaries, theater and storytelling could not be missing!

For the ones wondering about far away places, out of our reach, the documentary “Space Colonies: Life beyond Earth“ presented recent and realistic scenarios of space colonization. The Association of Karatheodori Friends from Komotini offered us an insight into the life of a leading Greek mathematician, Constantin Catatheodory. Max Planck Cinema took us to the forefront of basic research with its documentary “Research on screen! Life sciences for everyone”.

Albert Einstein was also there. He discussed the “bottleneck” of time and talked to us about his relationship to Newton, but also his disappointment for the way his discovery was put into use during the 2nd World War. Marie Curie talked about her discoveries and even disclosed some details about her personal and scientific life! And those were just two of the prominent individuals that the audience could meet and chat with at this year’s Athens Science Festival.

Entering the theater’s circles we saw that “the show must…evolve” with a little help from the team Sci’n’Act. The performance answered gripping questions such as “where do we come from”, “what do we have to share with apes” and “why on earth are we here today anyway”. Evolution was also the main concern of the story “Darwin – Wallace: Individual minds, common thought“ of the biologist Nausika Kapsala. There we got to know how we reached the theory of evolution, by following the adventures of its main representatives: Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.

The entertainment of the physics enthusiasts was undertaken by the Science Reactors with their Atomic Dialogues: “What do an atom and a plum pudding, or a particle and a wave have in common, and what kind of “quantum” jumps did Bohr talk about?”. And in case you ever asked yourself what kind of conversations individuals like Richard Feynman and Elvis Presley would have… the performance “Powerful Atom” had the answer, and it was pretty amusing. Since talking to important personalities seemed to me a thing, we followed a “Q-rius” young girl through her own adventures, while she was chasing an inventor.

Despite our love for science, at the Athens Science Festival we do not forget that it also has its dark sides, for which we don’t hesitate to put it on trial. The Association of Greek Chemists along with the 2nd High school of Pallini interrogated chemistry and biology regarding the biological and chemical weapons that have been used over the centuries. Further ethical issues were addressed by the 63th Lyceum of Athens, whose students revived significant figures of the scientific world, puzzling us about the rights, the responsibilities and the obligations of a scientist.

And if all that is not enough to keep you awake at night… we know what is! How many times have you, in despair, asked yourself “Shall we go to sleep”, finally?. The homonymous act by the Lyceum of Magoula gave us the answer in a humorous and scientifically accurate way!!