Staying in South Pole in Antarctica is quite thrilling – the food here could match the best of restaurants and people are as happy as elsewhere – who take time out to listen to music, enjoy band performances and play outdoor games!
Around 500 students literally got the experience of the South Pole at the Nehru Science Centre – when they interacted with scientists of the IceCube Neutrino South Pole Observatory, Antartica. This was the first interaction of students from Asia with scientists in the South Pole.
“Kids are really excited,” said Shivaprasad Khened the Director of Mumbai-based Nehru Science Centre, who was accompanied by Shrikant P Pathak, the Head of Education Cell and Saket Singh Kaurav, the Curator, as they introduced the audience to Prof Jim Madsen, the Associate Director for Education and Outreach,
Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Centre, USA and Megan Madsen, Education and Outreach Coordinator, Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Centre, USA.
From Mumbai, Prof Naba K Mondal, Sir J C Bose National Professor and Senior Professor at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, who is also the Project Director of Neutrino Observatory and Inter Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics, also joined.
“Neutrinos are very important to further understand universe,” he told the students. Students asked a wide variety of questions right from the life in South Pole to the use of neutrinos and whether this energy can be harnessed and why the research was being undertaken.
From Antarctica, those who joined were Armando Caussade, Stephan Richter, Erik Beiser, Mike Duvernois, Sam Deridder, James Casey and Hans Neiderhausen.
“This is for the first time, we are connecting with students of India..the virtual tour is to promote science and create awareness of neutrinos,” said Madsen. Encompassing a cubic kilometre of ice, IceCube searches for nearly massless subatomic particles called neutrinos.