In the last semester, the Mythbusters, organised by Prague EPS Young minds section, tackled one of the many conspiracy theories surrounding the LHC at CERN. Though the level of falsehood was astonishing, most of the statements presented are easily disproved and are based on complete lack of knowledge of the subject. This time, the Mythbusters have chosen less public, but partially more challenging target.

Gabor Fekete is notorious figure in the physics community. Many of those working in the field have received at least one email from this person – proclaiming most of the modern physics false and introducing new theory of particle mass. Fekete boldly challenges modern discoveries ( e.g. last two Nobel prizes awarded in physics – Higgs Boson and Neutrino oscillation), but as most of conspiracy theories he fails to deliver any evidence and his counter-theory is base of false usage of established theories.

True malice of this persona however does not come from annoying spamming of vast number of physicist, but from false and unlawful impersonation of various prominent figures. He has pretended to be for example Peter Higgs or various members of Nobel committee. Though probably everyone can see through this deceit, it only shows that his claims cannot stand on its own merit and Gabor Fekete has to lower himself to such methods.

The Mythbuster’s presentation focused mainly on debunking the “Fekete theory”, where we tried to accurately present his theory and point out inconsistent usage of physical formulas. Further we disproved the accusations made against modern physics, defending for example Higgs boson discovery, where Fekete claims only one Higgs was observed (which is preposterous only because it was observed separately on two experiments).

The presentation was accompanied by refreshments in form of sandwiches and cakes. The event was attended by approximately 20 people and was well received, followed by conversation between presenters and the audience. It was for example pointed out that people from CERN also tend to get messages from Gabor Fekete.

International Masterclasses is an annual event tratitionally held in February or March, which provides a unique opportunity for 15-19-year old students to discover particle physics. A total of approximately 10.000 high school students from 47 countries participate every year, effectively getting insight into topics and methods of basic research at the fundaments of matter and forces. Not only are they given a chance to get out of school without being prosecuted, but they also put their hands on an experiment themselves by performing measurements on real data from particle physics experiments at CERN. Almost 200 universities or research centres are involved in this project.
There are three participating institutes in the Czech Republic – the Institute of Physics at the Silesian University in Opava, the Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics at the Charles University in Prague and the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University (FNSPE CTU) in Prague.
This year’s International Particle Physics Masterclasses at the FNSPE CTU took place on March 18 2016 at the faculty’s headquarters. The Czech part of the project is being organised in cooperation with the International Paticle Physics Outreach Group, Prague EPS Young Minds section and CERN. The students are given an unique opportunity to become a particle physicist for one day without needing any special knowledge.
In the morning, the students went through a series of instructive lectures given by scientists who actively work at CERN, whereas in the afternoon, an actual data analysis from two LHC experiments – ATLAS and ALICE – was carried out. While analysing the experimental data from ATLAS, the students were given a chance to (re)discover the (divine) Higgs boson. The results were forwarded to CERN. The highlight of the day was a live videoconference with CERN physicist and with other teams from several universities abroad. At the very end, the best team was proclaimed. During the day, organizers prepared lunch, refreshments, beverages and coffe for participating students.

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The public screening of the documentary film called Particle Fever, owned by Prague EPS Young Minds section, connected with the lecture explaining the theoretical background and historical development of the discovery of Higgs particle was held at two venues. Even if the budget was designed only for one event we decided to realize two screening to reach more people at the cost of limited refreshments at the second event. Because of absence of czech subtitles for the film, our team created them so that the film was available for whider audience. The event was promoted on the facebook, twitter, posters and dedicated web site (http://particlefever.youngminds.cz/) created by our section.

The first happening was on March 30, 2016 at Czech Technical University in Prague and the lecture was heded by the prof. Jiri Chyla, CSc. from the Institute of Physics of The Czech Academy of Sciences. The lecture called “Particle Fever” took about a hour. Before the lecture and before the film, a small refreshment containing water, coffee, tea and biscuits was provided. The approximate attendance was 35 people.

The second happening was on April 20, 2016 at Charles University in Prague and the lecture was heded by the doc. Mgr. Alexander Kupco, Ph.D. as well from Institute of Physics of The Czech Academy of Sciences. This event was conducted in tight partnership with the Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists and was included in the official program. The approximate attendance was 30 people.

The feedback of the participants was very positive and we hope that this event explained one of the greatest discoveries in particle physics over the last decade to the wider public.

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