France

For further information related to French events, contact the Coordinator:
Prof. Michèle Leduc
Lab. Kastler Brossel
Dept. de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Sup.
24 rue Lhomond
F-75231 Paris Cedex 05
tel: +33 01 4432 2023 • fax: +33 01 4432 3434
Emails: leduc@lkb.ens.fr or michele.leduc@physique.ens.fr

Useful links:
http://sfp.in2p3.fr
www.physique2005.org
www.wyp2005.org/unesco/unesco.htm

Events:

• Launch Event of the World Year of Physics, Paris, Jan. 13-15 2005:
  International conference at the UNESCO headquarters “Physics for tomorrow”, supported by IUPAP and EPS. Nobel Laureats, politicians, physicists, young scientists.
  Read more

• Reaching the public:
  Physics exposition and general physics talks in major cities Communication/PR events in many schools and public places. Many smaller events at the local and regional levels.

• Four main topics (and associated events in major cities)
  Physics and Life Sciences - The Universe - Environment - Light and Matter Examples - 25 public lectures on physics will be organized in Paris in summer 2005, and will be held later in other cities in France; - A series of giant outdoor posters (“the sky as seen from the Earth”) will be prepared and shown in many places in France; - Professional physicists will give introductory talks (including demonstrations and experiments) and show videos in schools; - Meteorological and seismological detectors will be operated by school classes troughout the year 2005 (and beyond); - A booklet on the “Profession of Physics” will be prepared and distributed to interested pupils in high schools; - In Paris, there will be light shows (lasers at night, artificial rainbow over the Seine river during the day) in summer;

• Physics in Schools
  Many scientists and teachers have volunteered to get involved and prepare exhibitions about experiments that demonstrate the basic phenomena of physics in secondary schools. A travelling exhibition is being prepared with the “Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique” (CNDP- National Centre for Pedagogic Documentation). There is a rich variety of educational material available to the contributors: experiment kits prepared in collaboration with science museums, video supports, etc... An illustrated pamphlet dedicated to “physics’ professions’ will be distributed at all events which take place in schools. -Other ideas are still being conceived, inspired by very positive experiences in the USA: the installation of captors (metrology and seismology) in schools to enable pupils in classes hooked up to national networks via the internet to make readings. This type of idea has also been put forward for astronomy in the case of prolonged “hands-on” operations in particular in secondary schools where ‘the Attainable Universe' programme is operational. - 2005 will also provide the opportunity for a dynamic revival of the participation of French teams in the International Physics Olympiads aimed at pupils in the last year of secondary school.

• From Fundamental Physica
  series of meetings on "Physics and fundamental interrogations" is planned. These meetings will focus on Einstein’s horizons and on fundamental topics such as time, space, matter, life, thought, complexity with a dialog sparked off between different intellectual communities. The “ Université de Tous les Savoirs’’ (UTLS) has reserved a 25-module conference in Paris in July 2005. A unique place will be reserved for the theme “The Universe” and in particular black holes, exoplanets, physics of the sun, formation of stars. A travelling exhibition of giant photos of the "The sky seen from earth" is being prepared.

• To Physics as the basis for new technologies
  A particular focus will be given to 'Physics and life" highlighted by examples such as imagery, new materials for medicine, captors for the perception of sounds and sight. Multi-disciplinary questions will be raised on a theme concerning the “Environment" for example climatology, seismology and sources of energy. "Matter and light" has been selected as a theme to illustrate the importance in everyday life of the new technologies emanating from Physics with the omnipresent universe of communications (DVD, web, internet). New materials are emerging at the era of nanophysics and light serves not only to illuminate but also to study living matter, to probe pollution or to measure the age of the Universe.

• Physics and the arts: a new inspiration
  The "art and science" aspect will be strongly encouraged with a planned programme of theatre and choreography inspired by science, sometimes as street shows. Exhibitions will enhance the association between music and acoustics, painting and light as planned in the "Light in the Century of Light" exhibition currently under preparation in Nancy. Experiments in physics for the general public will be finely tuned to be both spectacular and aesthetically pleasing.

• Exhibition:
  Already there is a strong regional mobilisation of scientists and promoters of scientific culture . Here are some examples of the projects being prepared: - in Strasbourg and Clermont Ferrand; construction of a muon detector in the city - in Besançon: travelling exhibition 'Einstein's violin'. - in Lille and Limoges: vehicles equipped with experiments will travel throughout the academy - in Strasbourg: exhibitions 'science objects' and 'gangs of scientists" - in Nice: various experiments from laboratories - in Paris operation "Paris City of Light" with rainbows over the Seine, measures of the speed of light, cleaning monuments using lasers, etc… again in Paris: photos of big international laboratories on the railings of the Senate or an other place.

• Paris « Ville-Lumière » (City of Lights)
  « Physics in the street » Light interferometry with Young slits, « photon by photon » Measure of velocity of light (Fizeau chopping wheel measurement) Artificial rainbow demonstration on Seine (with the help of Paris firemen) Atomic clock and Eiffel tower (gravitational red-shift) Laser RADAR (“Teramobil”) Adaptive Optics (Astronomy) Bio-medical applications of lasers etc…

• Albert Einstein's Century:
  Contact: Prof. Jean Michel Alimi
  - International colloquium of research (18 - 23 July 2005, Paris, France).
  One of the main purposes of this international colloquium is to put in perspective the work of Einstein and the recent developments of the following (potential) scientific and philosophical topics:
  Cosmology, Theory of Unification, Theory of the Gravitation and Nature of Space - Time, Compact Objects, Nature of the Quantum World, Brownian Motion, Philosophy, Politics, Biography and other aspects.
  - Set of conferences open to the general public accompained by an exhibition (11-15 July 2005, Paris, France):
  The general public conferences will allow some French-speaking world specialists to present to a large audience the evolution of our knowledge of the Universe since A. Einstein. There will be an interaction between the public and scientists through round tables. Moreover, an exhibition on Einstein and our current vision of the Universe will accompany the conferences. The conference will be held in French and the exhibition will be both in English and in French.
  Read More

• Debate about "Einstein aujourd'hui":
  ENS Paris, February, 8, 2005 2005 has been declared International Year of Physics by the General Assembly of the UNO and UNESCO in order to commemorate the hundredth birthday of "the annus mirabilis" of Einstein, which published in 1905 a series of articles founders on relativity, the luminous quanta and the Brownian movement. To celebrate physics and at the time of the exit of the books "Einstein aujourd'hui" and "Comment Einstein a changé le monde" , EDP Sciences organizes, in collaboration with the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the magazine "Pour la Science", a debate animated by Philippe Boulanger and devoted to the remarkable topicality of work of Einstein, which not only opened the way with the physique of the 20th century but continues to have an impact today.
  Download the Press Release (in French) (PDF, 150 Kb)
  See the notes of the works : Einstein aujourd'hui and Comment Einstein a changé le monde.
  Free access on reservation before February 1st near Elise Chatelain :
  tél: 01 69 18 69 87 • fax: 01 69 07 45 17 • chatelain@edpsciences.org

Download the agenda by clicking here

• "Entre-Sciences" Colloquium
  The Centre Koyré (Centre d’Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle), and the association Entre-Sciences (Maison des Sciences de l’Homme)  organize an interdisciplinary colloquium on the following topics: "As physics makes a contribution to the studies of the living: witnesses at the present time."
  
  December 16-17, 2005 at Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle and at Ecole Normale Supérieure, PARIS, France.
  
  Scope of Colloquium: against the backdrop of the International Year of  Physics, this interdisciplinary colloquium aims at presenting the state-of-things of today's contribution of physics to biology. Speakers specialists in Human Sciences and "Hard Sciences" will participate to the colloquium.
  
  Speakers: David Bensimon (ENS, Paris), Jean-Pierre Changeux (Collège de France, Paris), Vincent Croquette (ENS, Paris), Rava A. da Silveira (ENS, Paris), Evelyn Fox-Keller (MIT, Boston), Vincent Hakim (ENS, Paris), Eric Karsenty (EMBL, Heidelberg), Karin Knorr-Cetina (Konstanz University), Michel Morange (ENS, Paris), Jean-Pierre Nadal (ENS, Paris), Marilyn Strathern (Cambrige University), Cécile Sykes (Institut Curie, Paris), Andrew Thompson (Synchrotron Soleil, Gif s/Yvette).

Please consult our web site and make your registration from today :

www.entre-sciences.msh-paris.fr

The attendance to the colloquium is free but registration is mandatory.

This colloquium is sponsored by DRRT,  Ministère de la Recherche, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme and Consortium National de la Recherche en Génomique