In the entrance area in front of the BESSY building, visitors came to find out about green hydrogen, solar energy and building-integrated photovoltaics. Some also came with specific questions about their own construction projects.
© Bildschön/Tom Maelsa
Before the tour of BESSY II, the visitors first got an overview of the model.
© Bildschön/Tom Maelsa
The experimental hall was crowded. Many teams presented hands-on experiments.
© Bildschön/Tom Maelsa
The "Cool Corner" in the experimental hall: why do you actually need such low temperatures for physical experiments?
© Bildschön/Tom Maelsa
There were also numerous hands-on experiments in protein crystallography and many lively discussions.
© Bildschön/Tom Maelsa
The tour also led into the storage ring of BESSY II. Here, the magnetic structures that keep the electrons in their trajectory are visible here.
© Bildschön/Tom Maelsa
The control room of BESSY II (and the MLS) is always making a great impression.
© Bildschön/Tom Maelsa
The famous experiment with a chocolate marshmellow in a vacuum was presented behind the bridge.
© Bildschön/Tom Maelsa
The young students working group presented new ideas for a green city.
© Bildschön/Tom Maelsa
On Saturday, 22 June 2024, HZB opened its doors at the Adlershof site and welcomed around 2200 visitors. 1038 people visited the IRIS research centre, where research from HZB was also presented. Around 250 HZB employees were on duty, some until midnight, to look after the many interested people, present experiments or talk about research.
"I saw cheerful helpers from HZB and equally cheerful and good-humoured visitors," says Arne Norek, who organised the LNDW at HZB.
In front of the BESSY main building, science teams presented their work on solar cells, demonstrated the production of green hydrogen or provided an overview on the possibilities of integrating solar modules directly into the façade or roof of a building. The lectures in the lecture theatre on these topics were also well attended. Upstairs in the cafeteria, the two HZB student labs offered hands-on experiments.
A special attraction was the tour of BESSY II, which not only went through the experimental hall, but also through part of the storage ring. "People had a lot of fun," says Markus Ries, summarising his impressions. The accelerator expert gave a brief introduction at the BESSY model in the entrance hall. For many visitors, it was completely new that there is a particle accelerator here in Berlin, in which the particles do not collide, but instead emit light. "The highlight was the people," said Ingo Müller.
A total of 60 research institutions (including universities) in Berlin took part in the Long Night of Science and in total, roughly 30,000 people took the opportunity to find out more, discuss with experts and see amazing experiments on site.
The next LNDW is planned for 28 June 2025
