16 January 2026
Students of the 9th grade (Grade C of Gymnasium) of the Music School of Thessaloniki had the opportunity to experience a unique educational journey of global scope, as they temporarily left their classrooms to be digitally “transported” to the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, CERN in Geneva.
On the initiative of teachers Christiana Matentsidou and Fotis Prapas, all Grade C classes participated in a live virtual tour of the underground facilities of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The activity took place on Thursday, 15 January 2026, during a rare period when the ATLAS detector was accessible, offering students a view that very few people worldwide are fortunate enough to experience firsthand.
Through the Zoom platform, students connected directly with the experiment’s facilities. During the one-hour tour, they explored the impressive detector installations in real time, attended a presentation in Greek delivered by scientists working at the forefront of research at CERN, and interacted directly with researchers, asking questions about the fundamental components of matter and the creation of the universe, thus linking physics theory with practice.
The decision to include all students of the grade proved highly beneficial. At a time when adolescents are shaping their interests, contact with CERN allowed them to perceive science as a field of collaboration, innovation, and continuous discovery. Accustomed to understanding the world through frequencies, waves, and vibrations, the students discovered that the same laws governing musical harmony lie at the heart of fundamental physics. The virtual tour of the ATLAS detector was not merely a presentation of cutting-edge technology, but an initiation into the “music” of the universe.
At the Music School of Thessaloniki, the cultivation of art does not operate separately from scientific thinking; on the contrary, the two domains enrich one another, shaping personalities with intellectual breadth and critical ability. The success of this initiative highlighted the multidimensional identity of the Music School of Thessaloniki, demonstrating that its students can approach both the art of music and the great questions of science with equal mastery.