European Masterclasses
"Hands on Particle Physics"

In March 2005 about 2500 high school students in 18 countries all over Europe will try to unravel the mysteries of particle physics. Coming to one of about 60 nearby universities or research centres for one day, they learn about particle physics in lectures from active scientists, and perform measurements on real data from particle physics experiments themselves. Einsteins equivalence of mass and energy, which is at the heart of particle physics, becomes transparent in the practical exercises. At the end of each day, like in an international collaboration, the participants join in a video conference for discussion and combination of the results.

The series of Hands on Particle Physics Masterclasses" (http://wyp.teilchenphysik.org) starts in Berlin Adlershof on Monday 7th March 2005, during the central DPG conference "Physics since Einstein", with a joint opening event of Humboldt University, Berlin, and DESY, Zeuthen. Not only local high-school students will have the chance to participate: A trip to Berlin or to two other masterclasses at DESY (Hamburg) and CERN (Geneva) will be offered to the winners of an online quiz at (http://lxsa.physik.uni-bonn.de/outreach/wyp/travel.htm).

Apart from the German Physical Society also the European Physical Society and the German Research Ministry support this largest European-wide event for high school students in the World Year of Physics. It is organized by Prof. Michael Kobel from Bonn University and the executive secretary of the German Science on Stage Association (http://www.scienceonstage.de/183.0.html) on behalf of the European Particle-Physics Outreach Group EPOG (http://www.teilchenphysik.org/temp_eppog_uebersicht.htm).