Korea celebrates science
The biggest science-related festival in Korea, the "2009 Korean Science Festival," was held in the KINTEX Convention Center in Ill-San on 4 August, 2009. Over 200,000 people attended the festival, and got a chance to experience programs on topics ranging from climate change to energy.
The National Fusion Research Institute showcased the principle of fusion energy by introducing KSTAR—the world's largest existing superconducting tokamak device, which recently started its second campaign to achieve ultra high temperature plasma—and ITER, currently under construction in southern France.
During the whole exhibition, staff from NFRI explained the principle of plasma in an understandable way using "plasma balls." A model of KSTAR was given away to all of the participants as a souvenir. For the younger ones, there were fusion-related puzzles and quiz games, in which more than 10,000 children participated.
The theme of this year's science festival was "Green Future made by Science and Creativity." Much fun was had by all, and we look forward to next year's edition!
