Some of the world’s finest minds and a spectacular light and sound show marked the opening of The Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics.
The celebrations began on Thursday, 9 March 2017, with a series of talks from leading figures including architect Daniel Libeskind, Lord Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, and prominent astrophysicists Professors Hiranya Peiris, Mark Hannam and Carlos Frenk, Director of Durham University’s Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC).
Lord Rees unveiled a plaque commemorating the official opening of the centre on South Road, Durham City, UK, on Friday, 10 March 2017.
The opening celebrations will also saw a free public showing of light and sound projection Worlds, Systems & Creations which was projected on to the side of the new building.
Worlds, Systems & Creations was created by artists Ross Ashton and Karen Monid, with music by Isobel Waller-Bridge. It began with the story of 18th Century County Durham astronomer, mathematician and architect Thomas Wright who was the first person to describe the shape of the Milky Way.
It also featured a stunning computer simulation of the Universe carried out at the ICC, some of which featured in The World Machine exhibit projected on to Durham Cathedral as part of Lumiere 2015.
On Friday 10 and Saturday 11 March, visitors were then able to learn more about the Universe through a series of outreach activities including the chance to build a Universe with the Universe Creator, take a virtual reality "Tour of the Cosmos" and watch the 3-D movie Cosmic Origins; created by the ICC.
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