March 27, 2019 — As part of its mission to educate and engage the public in science, CERN is launching the Science Gateway, a new facility dedicated to scientific education and outreach.
The Science Gateway will be hosted in a new, iconic building on CERN’s Meyrin site, designed by world-renowned Renzo Piano Building Workshop, architects. Construction is planned to start in 2020 and be completed in 2022.
The purpose of the project is to create a hub for scientific education and culture in line with CERN’s mission to share knowledge and technology with society, and to inspire the younger generations with the beauty of science. Aimed at engaging audiences of all ages, the Science Gateway will include inspirational exhibition spaces, laboratories for hands-on scientific experiments for students from primary to high-school level, and a large amphitheatre to host science events for experts and many other audiences.
The Science Gateway will be funded through donations and will receive a special contribution from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), as part of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project on Science and Technology dissemination and to honor Sergio Marchionne, its long-serving CEO who recently passed away.
On Monday, 8 April, CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti will host a media event and unveil the project together with Renzo Piano, Antonio Hodgers, President of the State Council of Republic and Canton of Geneva and FCA Chairman John Elkann, among other donors.
In order to attend, reporters are invited to request accreditation to CERN press office by 4 April 2019 at [email protected]
Programme of the event:
10h30 Accreditation of journalists at the CERN reception
10h30-10h50 Shuttle service to go to press briefing location (Magnet testing hall in France)
11h Welcome and presentation of the Science Gateway project by Fabiola Gianotti, Director General of CERN
Remarks by Antonio Hodgers, President of the State Council of Republic and Canton of Geneva
Remarks by John Elkann, Chairman of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Group
Presentation of the Science Gateway building by the architect Renzo Piano
11h40 Q&A session
12h End of the press briefing
Following the press conference, there will be an opportunity for a limited number of journalists to visit the SM18 hall facilities and an underground LHC experiment.
About CERN
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s leading laboratories for particle physics. The Organization is located on the French-Swiss border, with its headquarters in Geneva. Its Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Cyprus and Slovenia are Associate Member States in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Lithuania, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine are Associate Member States. The European Union, Japan, JINR, the Russian Federation, UNESCO and the United States of America currently have Observer status.
Source: CERN