Iwate Prefectural University President (and former chief of KEK) Prof. Atsuto Suzuki gave a seminar on the ILC at Morioka # 1 High School on October 2nd. There, he talked about research on the mysteries of the origins of the universe and elementary particles, and how interesting it can be.

The seminar was attended by 560 students (both 1st and 2nd years) as a part of their general education. Prof. Suzuki said particle accelerators like the ILC were more normal than the students might realize. “You may think they sound like a scary machine, but microwaves and old CRT televisions are particle accelerators too.” Regarding the energy needed for research, he said, “Say you were going to power the collider at CERN with normal household batteries. You wouldn’t generate enough energy even if you had enough to put them in a line from the sun to Mars.”

Kanako Watanabe, a 2nd year student, was quite interested in the project: “The ILC will be a place where they research the beginning of the universe. It’s exciting to research this world nobody knows about.”