Dinner@Dana: Angels, Demons, Antimatter

Antimatter is a real substance that has fuelled the plots of many fictions. In the novel Angels and Demons by bestselling author Dan Brown, a secret society want to destroy the Vatican using an antimatter bomb. The antimatter was said to have been stolen from CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics in Switzerland. Its physicist Leonardo Vetra (a fictitious character) was horrifically murdered in mysterious circumstances. Could any of these things ever happen?

Antimatter physicist Rolf Landua, CERN’s ‘real-life Leonardo Vetra’, will be jetting in from Switzerland to explain the science that fiction cannot imagine (possibly taking the X-33 spaceplane). In 1995 CERN became the first place in the world to successfully create antimatter. Since then, CERN’s physicists have been routinely producing it in the ‘antimatter factory’. How do they make this stuff? Where do they keep it? And what is it used for? Brace yourself for some strange science and an imaginative menu inspired by the talk!

Tickets cost £15, which includes which includes a drink and a special two-course meal inspired by antimatter and Angels and Demons.

Dinner@Dana is part of the Café Scientifique network. Meetings aim to stay outside of the traditional academic context by creating a relaxed and informal atmosphere in which to discuss scientific issues. These Cafés provide a place for everyone to explore the latest ideas in science, technology and medicine.

Speaker

Rolf Landua, physicist, CERN

This event is part of Dinner@Dana