‘Bright Night’ Free Events for Science Lovers

 

Right, singer Tupa Ruja, who will perform during the ‘Bright Night’ Festival

Enter a wonderland of science with the Fall 2021 return of BRIGHT Night, Firenze’s premiere science showcase! BRIGHT night spans multiple locations this Friday and Saturday, September 24 and 25, and includes such events as free museums, concerts, and research presentations. The green pass is mandatory for entrance into all venues.

Saturday will be a great day to visit science exhibits, with multiple museums opening their doors for free admission! These include the National Archaeological Museum from 8:30 am to 2 pm (Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, 9b), the Museum of Geology and Paleontology from 10 am – 7 pm (Via Giorgio la Pira, 4), the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology from 10 am – 7 pm (Via del Proconsolo, 12) and the Botanical Garden from 10 am – 7 pm (Giardino dei Semplici, Via Pier Antonio Micheli, 3).

For those with eyes for the stars, two facilities will be offering special access to their inner activities! Ximeniano Observatory (Borgo San Lorenzo, 26), a premiere instrumentation facility for weather, meteorology and geophysics, is opening its doors for guided tours between 3 – 5 pm, with reservations available by contacting info@ximeniano.it. Along with this, beginning Friday, Arcetri Observatory (Largo Enrico Fermi, 5) is offering nighttime tours from 9 pm onwards, while Saturday afternoon offers a rotation of workshops not usually offered to the public. A guided tour titled “Florence: Second Star on the Right” is also available at 10 am on Saturday, merging the arts and the sciences by discussing the representation of heavenly bodies and astronomical phenomenons in art displays and architecture. Reservations for all Arcetri events are required and can be found by contacting disclosure.oaa@inaf.it.

For those with more green thumb than starry eyes, the Giardino dei Semplici is hosting “Research for All,” an all day event on Friday, 24 that includes field expert mini conferences, presentations by university laboratories and independent research facilities, and youth workshops.

There’s even room for the kids! The Galileo Museum (Piazza dei Giudici, 1) has curated two youth specific presentations on the large monumental world map of Fra Mauro at 11 am and 12 noon and the first telescopes at 4 pm and 5 pm. And the aforementioned Arcetri Observatory has scheduled events for children on Saturday from 3  – 5 pm.

Other events include the concert of Tupa Ruja, a sonic exploration of the fusion of instruments and sounds from the didgeridoo of the Australian aborigines to contemporary electronic music (Saturday at 7 pm); the award ceremony “Research in three minutes” competition winners in Piazza San Marco on Friday at 11 am; and “180 Seconds of Science,” a challenge in which a researcher will have to present on their work in three minutes or less to convince a panel of their findings (Friday, 24 at 9 pm).

The complete calendar of events for the 2021 BRIGHT Night in Florence is available on the Bright night official website which can be found here.

(ashutosh shah)