Hairs fly and light scatters at Wetenschapsdag 2026
On October 3, ARCNL opened its doors to visitors young and old as part of the yearly Wetenschapsdag (Science Day) at Amsterdam Science Park. A variety of activities – demonstrations, lab tours, and lectures – attracted many curious visitors.
The sun was shining, the skydancer was dancing, and visitors of all ages came to spend an afternoon engaging with science at ARCNL and neighboring institutes at Amsterdam Science Park.
For some, it was their first visit, and we had many young future scientists engaging with our researchers. Others have joined our open day for many years, or were otherwise familiar with ARCNL on account of having worked here!
It was a fun, lively day. Kids and adults alike enjoyed building and decorating their own color splitters, and visitors enjoyed learning about ASML nanolithography machines with the showroom model. Our new demonstrations were also well attended. Some of the highlights:
👱♀️ Making hair fly with the Van de Graaff generator,
💅 Watching light scatter off of thin films, from nail polish to microchips,
💻 Learning about how computer chips are made with Wim van der Zande,
🎈 Seeing how balloons expand in a vacuum chamber,
and more!
The Wetenschapsdag is an annual event organized by the research institutes at Amsterdam Science Park: University of Amsterdam, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Nikhef, ARCNL, and AMOLF. It is part of the national Weekend van de Wetenschap (Weekend of Science): https://weekendvandewetenschap.nl/
Photos: Floris Krelage
