ITER @ October science festivals
Every October, before schools pause for two weeks of holiday, towns and cities in France open their municipal spaces to scientific experts of all stripes who are eager to share their areas of expertise with the general public ... especially school children.
Through stands, displays, posters, hands-on experiments and dialogue, institutes, laboratories and large science projects present their activities in an entertaining and easily accessible fashion. The annual Fête de la Science attracts millions of participants across the country.
The ITER Project has taken part every year since 2011. For this edition, ITER teams set up booths in Villeneuve Loubet, near Nice; Manosque, near ITER; and Marseille. The different areas of specialization of the volunteers—ranging from science and engineering to information technology, transport, communication, design, and security—meant that interaction with the public was always varied and interesting. A walk-in cinema with ITER videos, a holobox suspending 3D components in mid-air, and hands-on fusion experiments also drew crowds to the stands.
Across the three events, thousands of members of the public gained a better understanding of fusion and ITER.