Events

September 23, 2014 at 5:30 pm

Particle Fever: Popular Movie About Higgs Boson, Sept. 23

Dr. David Ingram at Particle Fever Q&A

Dr. David Ingram at Particle Fever

The Athena Cinema has scheduled an encore screening of Particle Fever on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m.

Nuclear physicists Dr. David Ingram and Dr. Justin Frantz will introduce the film and provide a short Q&A following the screening.

“After we sold out the event at the 41st Annual Film Fest and had to turn dozens of patrons away, we decided to bring the speakers and movie back by demand for a special one night only encore,” said Alexandra Kamody, Athena Cinema operations director.

Ingram, Professor and Chair of Physics & Astronomy at Ohio University, is a nuclear experimentalist whose research includes growing new electronic and optical materials and studying their properties. He is the past director of the John E. Edwards Accelerator Lab, which is part of the Institute for Nuclear and Particle Physics. Before the film, Ingram will talk about the basic science of the “smallest” particles, as well as the scales by which energy and matter are studied at many levels by physicists. Frantz is Associate Professor of Physics at Ohio University.

“One thing I find fascinating about the movie Particle Fever is the theme of what has transpired during the 50 years since Peter Higgs made a prediction. What we’re seeing here is history in the making and how real research is being done,” Ingram says. “I’m delighted that we can bring the movie back a second time to the big screen.”

Particle Fever is a riveting documentary by physicist-turned-filmmaker Mark Levinson. With the help of legendary film editor Walter Murch, Levinson follows six brilliant scientists during the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, marking the start of the biggest experiment in the history of the planet. As they seek the keys to unlocking the very building blocks of physics, the six protagonists join more than 10,000 other scientists in pursuit of a single goal: to recreate conditions that existed just moments after the Big Bang and find the Higgs boson, the particle that would explain the origins of all matter.

The Athena Cinema is one of 20 non-profit cinemas nationwide selected for the Science on Screen program where movies are paired with a short talk with a scientist or technology expert. At last April’s Particle Fever screening, turnout was so strong that planning for an encore one-time only screening began. The Sept. 23 event will be free and open to the public. Free admission is being sponsored by Arts for Ohio and the Ohio University Department of Physics & Astronomy.

The Athena Cinema is located at 20 S. Court St. in Athens. OH.

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