Our objective: to give people a taste for science

Our approaches and tools enable teachers to introduce up-to-date physics into their teaching and to involve their students in real experiments, as though they were young scientists. The 'School of the two infinites' forms a bridge between the teaching and research worlds. It aims to:

• Introduce pupils to careers available in research
• Awaken their curiosity to the physics of the infinitely small and to physics of the universe
• Share basic research discoveries and applications
• Present physics in a concrete way and the men and women who make it progress
• Foster scientific vocations among young people

We offer teaching materials, lectures in schools, meetings, experiments, exhibitions, laboratory visits. All these educational initiatives are based on partnerships - in particular with the Higher Education Research and Innovation Ministry 'Science à l’École' programme or with CERN – and they benefit from the support of many of the Institute's staff members. They are coordinated by IN2P3’s Communication and Outreach team, in close collaboration with the communication staff of its laboratories. Our flagship education projects are:

Particle physics masterclasses

In partnership with CERN, IN2P3 laboratories invite more than 1,000 students every year to a day-long discovery of particle physics session. The students take measurements on real LHC data and at the end of the day they attend a videoconference in English to exchange their results with other participants from abroad.

Information brochure

Internship at CERN

Every year, in partnership with 'Sciences à l'École’, IN2P3 organises an internship at CERN for high-school teachers. The five-day course takes place during the first week of the autumn half-term holiday is offered for around 20 teachers. The call for applications takes place in the spring and the selection is in May to June for internships the following autumn. For more information, click here.

e-PÉRON, educational platform on cosmic rays and muons

e-PÉRON is an educational project entirely devoted to training in secondary (high school) and higher education (DUT, undergraduate, master). It provides an experimental platform of cosmic rays physics installed at the Pic du Midi Observatory (Hautes-Pyrénées region) whose measurements can be consulted and used at a distance. To find out more about it, click here.

'Two-infinite' conferences

The conference programme of the École des deux infinis (the school of the two infinities) is primarily aimed at the scientists of the future, i.e. high school and undergraduate students. A second audience in our efforts to popularise science is the general public, with actions toward associations or during conferences, open days in our laboratories, exhibitions.

IN2P3's scientific themes are extremely varied. In terms of fundamental research, the two main axes are 'the infinitely small' and 'the infinitely large'. These are based on cutting-edge technological know-how in many fields and have led to the development of applied research activities. It is this knowledge - as well as the progress, challenges and discoveries that accompany it - that IN2P3 wishes to convey to society through the lecture programme of the École des deux infinis. Our speakers strive to respond as best they can to requests and adapt their pedagogy to the audience expected for their speech.

Proposed themes:

• Ultimate components of matter and fundamental interactions
• From nucleons to nuclei
• Astroparticles and Cosmology: composition and evolution of the universe
• R&D activities around particle accelerators
• Instrumentation
• Computational grids - Computer processing of large amounts of data
• Applications: nuclear and medical energy

WEB SITES

- laradioactivite.eu website: The various applications of radioactivity and nuclear reactions in everyday life, in the doctor's office, in museums, in laboratories and in industry are presented. Four levels of reading to interest both the less informed and more enlightened visitors are provided. Websites in French (laradiactivite.com) and English (laradioactivite.eu).

- lhc-france.fr website: This is a French-language site entirely devoted to CERN's LHC project. All the aspects of this titanic achievement are illustrated with animations, videos and photos. The scientific issues, the challenges of the accelerator, the detectors, the computing grid, the human adventure and the important place of France in this worldwide enterprise are found here. A CNRS and CEA website.

- GANIL General Public website: Discover the main research themes developed at the Grand accélérateur national d'ions lourds, the instruments used or how a nuclear physics experiment is conducted.

- CERN Science pages: These provide scientific explanations about the constitution of matter, on the operation and interest of particle accelerators, a presentation of CERN accelerators and many photos.

- CERN 360 Experiment: This website offers a journey to the heart of the world's largest scientific laboratory. Through a 360°-panoramic immersion into CERN, discover numerous videos and the portraits of 60 people from all walks of life who have an emotional or professional link to CERN.

- Dark matter web documentary: This immersive and general public web documentary was the fruit of the collaboration between several French research laboratories.   Discover what the scientific community knows and does not know about the fascinating unknown dark matter!

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

IN2P3 photo library, managed by the network of laboratory communication officers and the Institute's communication unit. It offers visual resources to the general public, the press and the Institute staff.

Some videos recently produced or supported by CNRS or IN2P3:

• LAPP is involved in the realisation of the large telescopes of the Čerenkov Telescope Array (in French only)
• Neutrino fishermen | a CNRS reportage (in French only)
• Gravitational waves: the extreme detectors (2016, 6') (English subtitles available)
• The mystery of Ettore Majorana, an absolute physicist (2016, 52 min) (in French only)
• The mystery of cosmic rays (in French only)

You can find many other images in CNRS photo (https://www.cnrs.fr/cnrs-images/) and video libraries (https://videotheque.cnrs.fr/)

BOOKS AND JOURNALS

• Élémentaire: This popular journal was published between 2005 and 2016. It aims to make particle physics as widely known as possible. Issues are still available online for free.
• Passeport pour les 2 infinis (Passport for the 2 infinities): This book is published by Dunod (3rd edition in 2016). Written by a group of researchers and engineers from CNRS and CEA, it presents a panorama of current knowledge in astrophysics, astroparticles and particle physics. The entire book is now freely available online.

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN PARTICLE PHYSICS

ELEMENTARY COMPONENTS POSTER

Discover this poster - in French - showing the state of our knowledge about elementary particles, the smallest bricks of matter known to date. It is downloadable free of charge and is intended for French-speaking schools and the general public. For more information, please write to the following address: afficheComposantsElementaires@in2p3.fr.

Documents to download: The A0 poster and the educational brochure (PDF).

 EXHIBITIONS AND MUSEUMS

• The Musée Curie in Paris: located in the former laboratory of Marie Curie near the Pantheon, it combines new technologies, archival documents and ancient objects in a 120-m² space that was renovated in 2012. The office and laboratory of Marie Curie can be visited and the history of radioactivity and radiotherapy are detailed, as are the different scientific discoveries of the Curies and the Joliot-Curies, the family of five Nobel Prize winners. Admission is free. Guided tours and some activities are available upon registration.
• L’espace EUTOPIA in Annecy: Through the visit of its multimedia discovery space EUTOPIA, LAPP proposes the discovery of physics in a novel way to school groups and associations.
• The Petits secrets de l'univers (small secrets of the Universe) exhibition in Modane: The permanent exhibition of the underground Modane laboratory (Laboratoire souterrain de Modane) is an interactive space which proposes to let the visitor discover cosmic rays, natural radioactivity and the history of its discovery. Entrance is free and guided tours are available on request.
• The CC-IN2P3 computing museum in Lyon: Visitors can discover the history of computing, from the first calculating machines to cloud computing, including the first personal computers. The museum also shows that the physics community has been at the forefront of computer developments, for example by inventing the Web. Visits are possible all year round for schoolchildren and for everyone during the 'Particule.com Festival' that is organised every other year as part of the French Fête de la Science (science Festival Days).
• Travelling exhibitions: Our old exhibitions - some copies of which are available in several IN2P3 laboratories - on LHC and accelerators, cancer, cosmic rays and secrets of the Universe - can be consulted on this archived page.
• Visit an accelerator: Teachers can request a visit of the Grand accélérateur national d'ions lourds in Caen for their classes. For the general public, open days are organised every two years. More information.

EVENTS

IN2P3 and its laboratories participate in, or organise, many scientific events for the general public such as La Fête de la Science (October), Dark Matter Day (November), CNRS Forum, Ma thèse en 180 secondes (My thesis in 3 minutes regional, national and international finals) etc. To find out more, please contact the IN2P3 communication group or your lab communication staff.

Contact us at communication@in2p3.fr

In the laboratories: The IN2P3 communication group relies on a network of communication correspondents and officers located in each laboratory of the Institute. This network ensures the circulation of information, the coordination of common communication actions and the promotion of laboratory activities at both local and national levels, in liaison with CNRS regional delegations.

The communication unit works in collaboration with many other scientific institutions such as CEA and CERN and within international scientific communication and outreach networks such as Interactions, EPPCN and IPPOG.

Want to promote an event or a scientific result?
 

Please contact your communication correspondent or officer in the laboratory with a description of your event or result, a presentation text in French of about half a page, a draft illustration and an indication of the date of publication, even if this is approximate. IN2P3 and CNRS communication department (Dircom) communication staff will then choose the best channel to promote your news (press release, scientific news “En Direct des labos’' article in “CNRS innovation” or on “CNRS Le journal” website) and will help you with the formatting of your text.

IN2P3’s social media accounts

Find more communication materials on CNRS intranet.