The Tale of Plasma and Particle Accelerators – Science Slam of Judita Beinortaite
In this era of particles, how we explore the deepest secrets of our universe relies on the tool of this era: particle accelerators. However, we are approaching the limits of the technology that we have been using for these accelerators, and new ideas are needed. How about instead of perfectly clean vacuum accelerators, we fill them up with complicated and temperamental plasma? Sounds stupid? – Well, Judita might convince you that plasma accelerators might actually work.
The Tale of Plasma and Particle Accelerators – Judita Beinortaite at the First PIER Science Slam
Judita Beinortaite
Judita is a PhD student in theoretical physics at DESY, doing beam-driven plasma-wakefield acceleration research at FLASHForward, with a focus on the high-repetition-rate operation.
About the First PIER Science Slam
After blogposts and podcasts, PIER wanted to tackle what is probably the most entertaining form of science communication: Science Slams. Theresa Schredelseker then teamed up with Philipp Gadow, postdoctoral researcher at DESY and experienced science slammer. In the workshop they offered, five PhD students from various research institutions at the Hamburg Bahrenfeld campus were assisted to develop their own Science Slam. They received one-on-one coachings with experienced science slammers (Philipp Gadow, Michael Büker or Matthias Mader) and a full-day workshop in which Philipp prepared them for their stage appearance.
On May 4, 2022 it was finally time to perform their slam in front of an amazing audience in the DESY auditorium. The show was hosted by Matthias Mader, who also performed a Science Slam as the opening act to break the ice and warm up the audience for our five contesters. The winner was determined by the audience and their applause, judged by three jurors, Michael Büker, Matthew Robinson and Theresa Schredelseker. It was such a close race, but Judita was found to have won this friendly battle of wits! Congrats to her but also to all other slammers who did a great job entertaining the audience! It was such a fun night!
Many thanks also go to Matthias Kreuzeder and the DESY Meeting Service. They were tremendously helpful when it came to organizing this event and preparing the videos.
