Author: Duarte Esteves

On the evening of October 9, 2021, the Lisbon YM section, with the support of the Portuguese Physics Society, organised the very first edition of the “Young Minds Movie Night”. The event took place in the beautiful cloister of the Lisbon Museum of Natural History and Science. This outreach activity targeted a broad and general audience, and the main goal was teaching Physics to everyone in a fun way.

The event consisted of two parts. First, the classic 1985 science fiction film Back to the Future was screened in a familiar and relaxed atmosphere. The participants were invited to bring their blankets and watch the movie with their friends while enjoying complimentary popcorn and beverages provided by us. Besides greatly contributing to the atmosphere, the outdoors setting was essential in order to adhere to the sanitary regulations in place.

Afterwards, Dr Marina Cortês, a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences of the University of Lisbon and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, gave an exciting lecture entitled “What does time travel have to do with puppets?”. Given the diversity of the audience, Dr Cortês sought clarity while explaining the nature of time as it is currently understood by theoretical physicists, taking the opportunity to dispel some commonly disseminated misconceptions. Of course, inspired by the movie, the (im)possibility of time travel was also examined, which led to a discussion on the concept of free-will under the theory of Einstein’s block universe. In the end, the participants also had the opportunity to ask questions, bringing several other interesting topics to the table in an informal conversation.

Thus, under the pretext of screening a fun movie, it was possible to introduce stimulating and fundamental concepts of modern Physics to our audience, whose ages ranged from 11 to 72 years old. In the end, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with everyone agreeing that it was definitely a very pleasant event which certainly merited a second edition to take place in the near future!

https://www.facebook.com/EPSYoungMindsLisbon

https://www.instagram.com/youngmindslisbon/

image: Afonso Caçador