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The “Festival della Scienza” returns to Genoa from October 24 to November 3. Oncce again this year, the Einstein Telescope project will once again be one of the main highlights, with an event titled “Approaching the Echo of the Big Bang”, scheduled for Saturday, October 26, at 3:30 PM, in the Sala del Minor Consiglio at the Palazzo Ducale. Dedicated to the challenges and successes related to the discovery of gravitational waves, the event will be moderated by astrophysicist and science communicator Edwige Pezzulli. Physicists Annalisa Allocca from the University of Naples and INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics), and Michele Maggiore from the University of Geneva, will participate in a discussion enriched by live illustrations by artist Jacopo Sacquegno.

The topic of the meeting is inspired by a phrase from physicist Adalberto Giazotto, who described the attempt to detect gravitational waves as “the craziest of endeavors”. Giazotto was the father of the Virgo experiment, which in 2016, one hundred years after Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, announced the discovery of gravitational waves together with the US collaboration LIGO. This discovery not only confirmed Einstein’s insights but also opened a new era for the observation and study of the universe. And as often happens in scientific research, overcoming one challenge also means opening up new ones. It is in this context that the idea of the Einstein Telescope was born, a gravitational wave detector that is even larger and more sensitive, capable of approaching the gravitational echo of the Big Bang.
Information for participation and registration are available at this link.

In addition to this event, the Genoa Festival della Scienza will host three more events related to gravitational waves:

“Einstein’s Challenge”, organized by EGO and the INFN (October 24 – November 3; weekdays 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM, Saturdays and holidays 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM, Palazzo Reale, Teatro del Falcone): laboratory activities to learn how gravitational waves are detected, the complex physics behind the operation of the detector, and why it is so difficult to build it.

“A Story at the Edge of the Universe”, organized by EGO (October 25, 11:00 AM, Galata Museum Auditorium): gravitational waves will be the focus of a story entirely created by participants, students aged 14 to 19, accompanied  by the illustrations of Jacopo Sacquegno and scientific guidance from Julia Casanueva.

“Women Listening to the Cosmos”, in collaboration with EGO, the INFN, and the INAF-National Institute for Astrophysics (October 26, 9:00 PM, Sala del Maggior Consiglio at the Palazzo Ducale): the discovery of gravitational waves has given us with a new “sense” to explore, or rather listen to, the universe. Pia Astone (INFN) and Silvia Piranomonte (INAF) will discuss this revolution, accompanied by images and music created through the sonification of real data by composer Mario Salvucci.