Join the Night of Scientists in Poland on September 29th for a night filled with popular science shows, workshops, competitions, and experiments in various locations, celebrating the spirit of discovery.
In the evening and night of September 29th, popular science shows, workshops, competitions, and experiments will take place in Małopolska, Poznań, Łódź, and Pomorskie. Researchers will open their labs and showcase to children, teenagers, and adults how exciting, engaging, and accessible science can be.
The Night of Scientists in Poland has a long-standing tradition, with some centers hosting events on the upcoming weekend and others a week later.
In Małopolska, the Night of Scientists will take place in Krakow, Tarnów, Nowy Sącz, Niepołomice, Sułkowice-Bolęcin, Skawina, Chrzanów, Oświęcim, as well as in Wadowice and Krzeszowice for the first time. Over 2,000 different shows and experiments have been prepared in over 100 locations.
More than 60 institutions, including the Polish Academy of Sciences, universities, libraries, museums, and companies, are preparing attractions. As the organizers of the Małopolska Night of Scientists promise, there will be plenty of fun with programming, physics, and chemistry. Popular events like racing with racing cars, robot shows, lightning spectacles, and freezing vegetables in liquid nitrogen will also be featured.
Given that it’s the Year of Copernicus, this year’s edition will be dedicated to the discoveries of Nicolaus Copernicus. The famous astronomer will be the protagonist of many meetings and the subject of the “Copernicus 550” art competition. Participants will have the opportunity to learn many facts about the cosmos, Copernicus himself, the development of the space industry, and other fields of science.
The Małopolska Night of Scientists is supported by the Nauka w Polsce portal. Most events are open to the public, but registration is required for selected ones.
The organizers of the Poznań edition of the Night of Scientists emphasize that the event “brings research and researchers closer to society, demonstrates the diversity of science and its impact on daily life, and aims to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and research.”
Children interested in the Night of Scientists activities at the Poznań University of Technology will discover how insects and animals effectively use the laws of physics in their daily lives. Participants are invited to explore the world of honeybees, chameleons, elephants, and owl moths. At the university, you can also find out what robots can do, test educational robots designed for various tasks, play football with Robo-footballers, and program a robot using puzzles. Guests can also enjoy shows using frozen carbon dioxide, featuring colorful, smoking substances, snow bubbles, and other attractions.
Archaeologists from the Adam Mickiewicz University will talk about forests as an undiscovered source of archaeological knowledge. The youngest participants will delve into the secrets of archaeology, uncovering hidden underground artifacts with a shovel and brush in hand. The Department of Biology has prepared activities related to pollen grain diversity, helping participants learn which pollen grains cause allergies and how to protect themselves from allergies. The exercises will be conducted in the form of demonstrations and workshop-plastic arts – each participant will create their own pollen models. In another meeting, you can learn if all ticks look the same, where they occur, and how dangerous they are to us.
The University of Life Sciences in Poznań has prepared activities aimed at raising awareness of global environmental changes, involving the replacement of tropical forests with oil palm plantations. The organizers want to encourage participants to consciously choose food products and pay attention to palm oil content. Another event will explore whether plants suffer from a lack of water, how to recognize drought symptoms, and how modern cameras can detect drought stress in plants before it is visible to the naked eye. Trends in Poland and worldwide in combating drought and building plant adaptations to water scarcity will also be discussed.
The program of the Night of Scientists in Poznań is available on the website, where you can also register for selected events.
The Pomorska Night of Scientists offers many events for children and teenagers. What are Platonic solids, and how can you make them using origami? How to write hieroglyphs? What is a Baghdad battery, and do fruits have voltage? What does blood look like under a microscope, and can you paint a picture using algae? Scientists will answer these and many other questions during the first Pomorska Night of Scientists, coordinated by Gdańsk Medical University, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk University of Technology, University of Maritime, Academy of the Navy, and the Experyment and Hevelianum Science Center.
Dozens of attractions have been announced, including meetings with experts from various fields, shows, laboratories open for visits, workshops, lectures, interactive activities, and contests. The full program is available here. Events are related to exact, medical, biological sciences, as well as psychology and humanities. Registration is required for most of them.
On the other hand, the Łódź Night of Scientists 2023 will be organized from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM at the EC1 Science and Technology Center. Participants will have the opportunity to learn if artificial intelligence can bring happiness to humanity, the problems caused by noise pollution, the impact of continuous sound presence on our well-being and health, the science of vision, and how animals see the world.
During one of the lectures, scientists will jointly consider whether technological solutions are designed with people in mind – whether they help build valuable relationships and improve the well-being of their users. DNA isolation and drug fluorescence are among the workshop topics. Another path will allow participants to enter the fascinating world of colors and light. Łódź Night of Scientists 2023 is organized by the University of Łódź, Medical University of Łódź, Lodz University of Technology, Institute of Power Engineering Thermal Techniques Branch “ITC” in Łódź, and EC1 Science and Technology Center.
“Our common goal is to create a recurring event during which we discover the most exciting achievements of science in a friendly and accessible way. By creating a program and using various forms of presentation, we hope to awaken curiosity and a hunger for knowledge,” says Magdalena Kosiada-Sylburska, head of CNiT EC1, as quoted on the EC1 website, where you can already buy tickets for selected events.
A week later, on Saturday, October 7th, the 18th edition of the Night of Scientists at the Silesian University of Technology will begin in four campuses: Gliwice, Zabrze, Katowice, and Rybnik. Scientists, doctoral students, and students have prepared over 200 shows. To participate in the Night of Scientists at the Silesian University of Technology 2023, you need to obtain a free ticket. Organizers emphasize that it does not entitle you to participate in workshops that require separate registration. To “Compose Your Night” and register for workshops, visit the website.
Meanwhile, many cities in Poland are still hosting science festivals. The Dolnośląski Festival of Science began in Wrocław on September 16th and will last until the end of October. The Science Festival in Warsaw is coming to an end. The cycle of main debates will conclude with a discussion on the theme “The New Quantum World,” where quantum phenomena used in practice – such as information transmission and cryptography – will be discussed. During the debate, which will be held on the last day of the festival on Friday, September 29th, the Golden Rose award for the best popular science book of the past 12 months will be presented.
The Night of Scientists is held under the honorary patronage of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the European Commission (Representation in Poland). The project is financed by EU funds. The initiative is part of the European Researchers’ Night, which, according to tradition, will take place on the last Friday of September in over 430 cities across the continent.