As part of the scientific outreach activities promoted by the Millennium Institute SAPHIR, a day dedicated to particle physics and the exploration of muon detectors was held last Wednesday, August 27, at the San Luis School in Antofagasta. The activity was led by Melanie Martinez, PhD student in Physics at the Institute of Physics of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and tutor of the project "Atomic Girls", an initiative of Projection to the External Environment (PME) directed by the alternate director of SAPHIR, Dr. Francisca Garay, together with the associate researcher Dr. Giovanna Cottin.
The event was organized and coordinated by Patricio Grunert, SAPHIR's Director of Communications, Outreach and WEP, together with the academic director of Colegio San Luis, Israel Romero. In addition, two guest schools from the city of Antofagasta - Colegio Bautista Lois Hart and Colegio Inglés San José - participated, bringing together more than 120 students, who attended as listeners to the talk on particle physics given by Melanie Martínez.
The Millennium Institute SAPHIR maintains a strong commitment to scientific outreach in schools in different regions of the country, generating instances that bring frontier research in particle physics to educational communities. These activities seek to inspire scientific vocations in children and young people, promoting early access to knowledge and technologies that are usually reserved for university or specialized spaces.
On this occasion, Antonia Sepúlveda, a student from San Luis School, also participated as a speaker. She represented all the schoolgirls from the Norte Grande of Chile in the Atomic Girls project, developed by SAPHIR during the months of June and July. Her intervention reflected the importance of opening spaces where students recognize themselves as protagonists in the construction of scientific knowledge and in the valuation of science as part of everyday life.