March 18, 2011 - "Parcours Jahr der Wissenschaft"

2011 will be the Year of Science ("Jahr der Wissenschaft") in Chemnitz, thanks to the CUT celebrating its 175th anniversary. Today the opening event of this special year took place: the "Parcours Jahr der Wissenschaft" ("Year of Science course") which gave people from all ages and classes the opportunity to get an insight into science, especially those fields of study at CUT, like mathematics, physics, and mechanical engineering. But also other science institutions in Chemnitz, such as the Museum of Industry ("Industriemuseum") or the Natural History Museum ("Museum für Naturkunde"), presented some insights. Visitors were given the opportunity not only to take a look at the objects, but also to try most of them out; for example, writing on an old typewriter from the Museum of Industry, or playing on a giant xylophone in the patio of the university (see below). Unfortunately, the weather was not that nice on this day, but some children didn't matter. They played Ring Toss in the patio or raced with scooters.

Other initiatives and institutions that presented their programs include the CVAG (the town's public transport agency), the "Chemnitz Forum glauben&denken" (a religious forum), or the hospital (Klinikum Chemnitz), which even offered visitors the opportunity to have their thyroid examined via a sonography.

The Faculty of Humanities at CUT was present on the second floor of the university building at Straße der Nationen (where the whole event took place), including some lecturers of the EAS department. The main attraction there was a trailer for a movie which was created in the frame of Prof. Dr. Cecile Sandten's seminar "Home/Heimat". The stand of the FacHum also featured placards dealing with and criticizing the plagiarism affair of Germany's former Minister of Defence, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.

From left to right:
The event had its start in the "Altes Heizhaus" building in the patio. Barbara Ludwig, Lord Mayor of Chemnitz, Prof. Dr. Klaus-Jürgen Matthes, president of the CUT, and Dr. Urs Luczak, who opened the "Parcours" with his speech, welcomed the guests and lecturers to the Year of Science. Before and after the speeches, the CUT BigBand provided musical entertainment.

From left to right:
-The "uni shop" had a stand in the Heizhaus, offering CUT merchandise products like t-shirts, coffee mugs or baseball caps.
-Children were able to discover fun with mathematics in the "Math Island" (Mathe-Insel) with lots of experimenting opportunities.
-Prof. Dr. Matthes and Mrs. Ludwig took a look at the FacHum stand.
-The "Home" movie trailer interested many visitors.











Pictures at the top (f.l.t.r.):
-President Prof. Matthes welcomes the guests to the opening event.
-Prof. Sandten and her colleagues at the FacHum stand.
-Presentation of engines and windscreen wipers (and how they work) in a hall at the ground floor of the StraNa building.
-The environmental-friendly "FORTIS SAXONIA" vehicle, which was developed by CUT students, in the Heizhaus.

The "real" celebration of the anniversary of CUT will be on May 2 on the Theater Square in Chemnitz.

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Following are some more visual impressions from the Parcours: