Talk by:\u00a0 Dr. Eugenio Bertozzi,\u00a0 Deutsches Museum, Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t, Universit\u00e0 di Bologna.<\/p>\n
Abstract:
\n\u201cThe Wilson cloud chamber\u201d introduced by the Scottish physicists Charles Thomson Rees Wilson at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in 1911 has been one of the most significant instruments of 20th Century physics. For the first\u00a0time, the radioactive emission imperceptible to the senses became visible: when a radioactive source was placed inside the chamber, trails of water droplets formed along the trajectories followed by the emitted particles. The instrument,\u00a0welcomed by Ernst Rutherford as the \u201cThe most wonderful experiment in the world\u201d, earned Wilson the Nobel Prize in 1927 and played a central role in capital discoveries such as the experimental confirmation of the existence of the\u00a0anti-matter in 1932. Surprisingly, after more than one hundred years, the cloud chamber is still on the stage of research as \u201ccore\u201d of the experiment CLOUD currently in-progress at the CERN and focused on the study of atmospheric\u00a0physics and climate science.<\/p>\n
In this talk I will look at the Wilson instrument not as a device to be perfected for pursuing new researches but as one to be adapted for teaching physics in schools and colleges: in other words, I will retrace the special trajectory which\u00a0brought a \u201cmilestone\u201d of physics research to enter, adapt and gradually stabilise within the context of education, becoming a \u201cclassic\u201d within the usual set of instruments that nowadays can be found in a modern school laboratory. Along\u00a0this complex process of stabilization, the invention of smart strategies for re-creating a delicate experiment in the classroom, the creativity in using the same device for explaining different aspects of physics fitting with a changeable\u00a0school curriculum and the beliefs of researchers, designers and teachers on \u201chow a teaching instrument should be made\u201d and, ultimately, \u201chow physics should be taught\u201d are the main insights which will be offered and discussed in the\u00a0talk.<\/p>\n