Two Masterclasses organized by the Discover the COSMOS took place in the Greek island of Samos on 18 and 19th of April. Samos is one of the East Aegean islands with 35000 inhabitants, the birthplace of Pythagoras, just a few hundred meters away from the Asia Minor coast. The first Masterclass which included a morning lecture by the coordinator Prof. C.Kourkoumelis, a virtual visit to the ATLAS Control room, followed by an HYPATIA event analysis “hands-on “ workshop, took place in the town of Karlovasi, the second biggest town on the island with 4000 inhabitants, with a rich tradition in seafaring and shipownership. The activity involved 30 students from the General High School and from the 1st vocational High School of Karlovasi. Students from the 2nd Junior High School of the island of Leros were also connected with the transmission of the virtual visit. Leros is a frontier island as well, very near the Asia Minor coast in the Southeast Aegean in the Dodecanese with 8200 inhabitans and a moderate touristic development. The 2nd Junior High School of Leros in the Lakki town has 140 students.
The second event took place next day in the capital of Samos, the town of Vathi. The program was similar to the one of Karlovasi, with a lecture, a virtual visit and an HYPATIA “hands-on” workshop. In Vathi about 40 students from the General High School and the Vocational High School took part in the activities.Both events were coorganized by Prof.Kourkoumelis of IASA and Prof.J.Gkialas of the Aegean University.
In both towns of Samos the day before the activities, a lecture about CERN for the general public was given by Prof. E.Tsesmelis, member of the CERN directorate. Prof. Tsesmelis’ lectures were followed by an enthusiastic audience of about 80 persons, who asked lots of questions at the end.