Ideas for future careers
What inspires physicists? Which professions support their research activities? On the National "Future Day" (Zukunftstag) of 10 November 2016, some 30 children participated in two special programs offered by the Department of Physics. These also showed the wide range of career opportunities in the department.
The moring programme covered the four vocational courses offered in the Department of Physics: electronics technicians, designers, polymechanics and physics lab technicians. Attended by apprentices, the children were given a lively insight into typical works and were allowed to carry out simple tasks themselves in the impressive workshop. Each child was give a flashlight to take home.
Light was also a topic in the second programme: Is it made of waves or particles? And can elementary particles also disappear completely, something like 'die'? Would it be possible to make a small Big Bang in an experiment? What happens when two black holes collide? The children's questions stimulated many conversations, from the smallest particle to the cosmos, with the researcher.
Stimulation and insights from the workshop and the seminar room: The children have taken home new ideas for their professional futures. The comprehensive and well-organized programme for all 200 children from all over ETH Zurich on the subject of "changing sides" aimed to overcome conventional ideas on gender roles. The children also enjoyed some culinary delights. The supporting programme was organized by ETH Services.