During a visit to one of the laboratories on the ground floor of the North Tower at Técnico – Alameda campus, the group of participants couldn’t believe their eyes – a metal cube was spinning in the air without any support, with only a layer of air separating it from the magnet resting on the tabletop. Their eyes opened even wider as they saw the cube stay afloat, even when the professor who was giving the demonstration picked up the magnet and lifted it into the air, turning it. The cube held its position as if hanging from the ceiling by an invisible thread.
It wasn’t a magic trick, as some of those present may have thought, but a demonstration of the properties of superconducting materials – one of the many examples of the science studied at Técnico, which on 5 April was shown to more than 2,700 curious visitors at the Open Day. The initiative brought together Técnico students, professors, researchers and staff who organised various activities such as lab visits, talks with scientists, course presentations, research centres and students’ organisations, experimental games and lectures.
Pedro Silva arrived over an hour early to prepare for the activities developed by PSEM. The vice-coordinator of this students’ organisation and undergraduate student in Industrial Engineering and Management says he came to the Open Day to show ‘the importance of the Técnico students’ organisations bridging the gap between education and the job market’. This is not the first time he’s attending the event – he’s used to welcoming parents, children, friends, prospective students and a wide variety of groups. ‘An excellent initiative,’ he summarises, before taking one last look at the electric vehicle on display in the Main Atrium during the event.
During the Open Day, Miguel learnt that inside the Mining Building, there is a museum full of rocks, minerals and fossils, with one of the walls decorated with an elephant skull, a hippopotamus jaw and a long horn, and another with a charred bone that once belonged to a large animal. While the 11-year-old was wandering around one of the rooms in the Décio Thadeu museum, between display cases filled with gneisses and limestones, plasters and muscovites, amphibolite and magnetites, a Técnico student was holding an ultraviolet torch, waiting for the best moment to show the youngster the fluorescent glow of some of the specimens in the museum’s collection.
‘I wanted to come to Técnico to study this engineering field’, says Joana Simão as she turns the torch in her hands, referring to the Undergraduate Programme in Engineering in Mining and Energy Resources that she is now attending as a result of taking part in the Open Day 2024. After having participated in ‘visits related to the field of physics and mechanical engineering’ at that event, Joana also had recommendations from her colleagues. ‘It’s funny’ that now it’s her turn to be in that position, she comments, while sharing her academic experience with the visitors.
Still in the process of deciding which course they want to take, Sara and Sofia had a surprise at the Open Day – around lunchtime they were greeted at the entrance to a laboratory by Bob, a robot who, after a brief conversation, took them to an improvised living room, to the amused looks of other visitors. After demonstrating Bob’s potential as a host (and comfortably settled on the sofa that the robot had indicated to them), the two 12th grade students explained that they had come with a group of friends to ‘get to know the school’ that some of them want to attend. ‘As we know, Técnico is a very prestigious school – we’re guaranteed a job when we leave here’, said Sara, while Sofia recommended participating in the Open Day ‘to other people who are curious, especially in science’.
The Great Hall was full of curious people about science attending the various activities organised by different research centres affiliated with Técnico. From technologies for preserving damage to museum heritage during earthquakes to board games involving quantum phenomena, there was a bit of everything here.
Diogo Rodrigues, who recently finished his Master’s Programme in Chemical Engineering, is about to start a research fellowship and explained a device’s working that was bubbling away on the table next to him, harbouring a group of bacteria that produce sustainable bioplastics for technological use (an example of which was a pair of spinning tops made from this material). Participating in the Open Day is ‘very important for practising communication skills’, something Diogo values not only ‘in the academic environment’, but also ‘for developing as a person’. Like Joana Simão, he also came to the Open Day when he wasn’t yet a Técnico student. He already had a good idea of what he would like to study, but the event helped him make a more informed choice by making contact with students in his areas of interest.
The event’s activities didn’t leave the younger ones out. Room C9 of the Main Building welcomed the little ones with paintings, activities involving the use of virtual reality glasses and chemical reaction experiments that made plastic cups spurt out coloured foams, similar to ‘elephant toothpaste’. The Open Day agenda took all ages into account, so much so that a Belgian family enjoying their holidays in Lisbon found themselves wanting to visit Técnico in the middle of their weekend tour of the capital. Mother and son interested in maths on one side, father and son curious about laboratories on the other, they meet again at the Main Building and from there they go out for an ice cream nearby – they were five of many other participants who left Alameda campus with an increased interest in what is done at the country’s largest school of engineering, architecture, science and technology.
