SMASHING MATTERS
A behind-the-scenes look at physicists attending a high-stakes international conference called 'Quark Matter”, where careers can be made or broken in the mere course of a 20-minute presentation. As physicists prepare to present their latest findings on the beginnings of the universe, they talk about their passion for science, their anxieties about the pressures of research, and the origins of this fascinating science of smashing atoms.
"A fantastic movie, I am sure it will increase the number of our students."
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DMITRI KHARZEEV,,DIRECTOR CENTER FOR QUANTUM MATERIALS AT STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY, HEAD OF RIKEN THEORY GROUP AT BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
"This is an excellent film, left me wanting more,
got curious about the topic."
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DAVID PILOT, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER
Ágnes Mócsy
the filmmaker
Theoretical physicist Dr. Ágnes Mócsy is visiting professor at Yale University, as Yale Presidential Fellow. She is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society, on leave from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. Her physics research examines the matter present microseconds after the Big Bang, before protons or atoms were formed. On the forefront of integrative science education, and far-reaching connections of science and the arts, her work as filmmaker began in 2012, with the making and production of an Op-Doc about the value of fundamental research. "Smashing Matters: Behind The Science Scene" is her first film.
The Science Behind the Film
Scientists recreate Little Bangs inside a US laboratory on Long Island, NY, at RHIC, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, and in Europe at Geneva’s LHC, the Large Hadron Collider.
This massive instrument -- the product of thousands of collaborators, countless innovations -- is the heir to decades of atom-smashing glory. Discoveries at previous particle colliders not only unveiled the building blocks of matter, but spun off into technologies ranging from breakthrough cancer therapies to methods of detecting dangerous weapons.
The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider carries that banner, replicating the conditions at the dawn of time and discovering an ultra-hot primordial plasma that existed 13.7 billion years ago. And it has much more work to do pioneering new technologies and exploring the forces that bind all matter together.
PURCHASE
Smashing Matters
(Running Time: 29 minutes)
A Documentary Film by Dr. Ágnes Mócsy.
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Dr. Ágnes Mócsy.
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