MEMORIES from the
2005 European School of High-Energy Physics
Kitzbühel, Austria, 21 August - 3 September 2005


Poster Session
Excursions
Press and TV
Links to official photo and students' photos

Ninety-seven students coming from thirty-three different countries attended the thirteen in the new series of the European School of High-Energy Physics, which took place in Kitzbühel, Austria, from 21 August to 3 September 2005.

Emmerich Kneringer from the University of Innsbruck was the local director of the School, co-chaired by Laurenz Widhalm from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna with Manfred Jeitler, also from Vienna as the third member of the local committee. In addition Andreas Salzburger was acting as a very efficient “assistant” to the local team. Mr. Otto Langer from the Kitzbühel Rotary Club also helped bringing the School to Kitzbühel and provided important links to the town authorities.

Short History.

Kitzbühel is a fascinating destination in the Alps and a charming town that has preserved the original character of its alpine chalets.  It is a famous ski resort and the birthplace of Toni Sailer, three times Olympic Champion and seven times World Champion. Its major attraction is the ski slope "the Streif" on Hahnenkamm.  Held on the steepest and most dangerous slopes it draws the biggest crowds of all ski races in the world. During Summer time for those who want to go up in the mountain world, the Kitzbühel area offers magnificent mountain scenery, beautiful countryside, a large choice of walks and treks of various lengths for every taste and level of ability.  The lifts take hikers and walkers up to the start of the best mountain trails in the Kitzbühel Alps.

 Kitzbühel first became part of the Tyrol in 1342 through the marriage of Margarete Maultasch to Bavarian Duke Ludwig The Brandenburger. After the death of her husband and the six-year war between Bavaria and Austria, however, Margarete relinquished her territorial claim to the Tyrol. About 500 years ago the Emperor Maximilian conquered Kitzbuehel and the fortification of Kufstein, thus incorporating Kitzbühel in Tyrol and the Habsburger empire.

 

Kitzbühel

The School

The School was hosted in Hotel Kitzhof, a Tyrolean style hotel, 200 meters from the city center. According to the tradition of the School, the students were sharing twin rooms, mixing nationalities and in particular Eastern students with Western ones.
Lunch was buffet style while for dinner the main course was served at the tables.
The bar was also very popular, and the frequent visits resulted in an artistic poster entitled "Quantum Beer Dynamics". The first simulations indicated that QBD gives more accurate predictions than QCD.
The lectures were held in a large conference room located on the Garden Floor set especially for the School requirements.
The School Secretariat, where Tatyana and Danielle were omnipresent, was set up in the "Toni Sailer" conference room located on the Ground Floor. 

The free time was spent swimming in the Schwarzsee (one of the Alp's warmest bathing lakes) or in the pools of the Aquarena or strolling along beautiful tracks in the nearby mountains, including Hochkitzbühel (1670 m) and the Kitzbüheler Horn (2000 m).
At 5.00 p.m. the participants reconvened for the third lecture of the day. This was followed by a coffee break and preparation for the Discussion Session. These Sessions were held in different rooms at the Hotel, starting at 7.00 p.m. and lasting until about 8.15 - 8.30.
During the “after dinner sessions” the participants gathered in the bar and had a lot of fun, with songs and big bursts of laughter which were sometimes a bit disturbing for the rare “early sleepers”.

 

Poster Session
The students displayed their work in the form of posters at a special evening session during the first week. The posters, of very high quality both technically and in content, were put up on the walls of the conference room and stayed on display for the remaining part of the school.

Poster Session

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EXCURSIONS and SPECIAL EVENTS were organized during the school.
The first Monday, a welcome drink offered by Professor Rudi Grimm, Dean of the University of Innsbruck, was served in the bar of the Hotel. Professor Tilmann Märk, Vice rector of the University of Innsbruck, Dr. Klaus Winkler, Major of Kitzbühel, Mr. Otto Langer, who helped to get the School in Kitzbühel and Egil Lillestol, Director of the CERN Schools of Physics gave nice welcome speeches.  Mag. Renate Danler, Head of the Tourism office in Kitzbühel, offered each participant the  Kitzbühel pin of the famous stylized chamois designed by Alfons Walde. 

The first Wednesday afternoon was a guided tour of Kitzbühel. The tour, which was organized as a travel in time, was very interesting allowing the participants to learn about the region’s history and the beautiful architecture of the town.
The guides, who were dressed in costumes of the 16th century when Maximilian the First integrated Tyrol in his Empire, were playing the roles of Maximilian the First and of his two wives, Marie de Bourgogne and Maria Bianca Sforza.  The tour made the city come to life under our eyes and we could easily imagine how the local inhabitants lived in older times.  We could almost hear the clip-clop of the horse hooves on the old cobbles as we walked along taking in all the information from the guides.

 
Maximilian, his two wives and a miner

Saturday was a visit to Salzburg. On our way to Salzburg we saw how the valley is nestled between the high mountains.   The road took us across Germany, the so called kleines deutsche Eck, a worry to some of the Eastern students with single entry visas, but we had to trust our guide that the students would be allowed back to the school.

The city of Salzburg - and especially its historic city center – is in fact one of the loveliest places in Europe, winning international acclaim in 1997 when it was designated a world heritage site by UNESCO.

The participants were split into two groups each with an official guide, and the tour went across the Mozart Square with the memorial of the city's genius, followed by the Market Square, the Residence Square with its splendid fountain and the Cathedral Square.  The Cathedral, which was originally built in the 7th century can take up to about 8000 people! We continued over the Kapitel Square at the foot of the Hohensalzburg Fortress and crossed the St Peter cemetery with the catacombs.  We saw the Monastery of St Peter, the Horse Pond, the Toscanini courtyard and the Festival House.  We passed the Nonnberg Abbey, the oldest monastery for nuns in German speaking countries. It was also interesting for many to see the house where Doppler had lived.

After the official tour, most of the participants ended up in the romantic gardens of the Mirabell Palace, built by the Archbishop Wolf Dietrich for his mistress and their children. Today, the palace hosts the city council on the other side of the river Salzach.  There was also plenty of time for a walk through the countless narrow streets which feature buildings from the Middle Ages, Romanesque, Baroque and Renaissance periods as well as the elegant classical burghers' houses dating from the monarchy.  We explored charming shopping lanes with romantic courtyards and admired the high, narrow houses tightly nestled together with beautiful portals, like the portal of Mozart's Birthplace where the Mozart Museum is located in the rooms formerly occupied by the Mozart Family.

The Hohensalzburg Fortress, built in 1077 and considerably enlarged during the 15th Century, is the largest, fully-preserved fortress in central Europe. The fortress could easily be reached by a funicular, but most of the participants walked up the steep footpath only to discover the rather high entrance price, which discouraged many to go inside.

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Press and TV

The local Press reported about the School in the Tiroler Tageszeitung dated 26.08.2005.
Another article was written about the Exhibition “Eine Reise zum Urknall” held in the “Hauptschule Kitzbühel” and opened by Egil Lillestol.
A few weeks after the School Laurenz Widhalm was inteviewed by the local TV, and a short reportage was broadcast covering both the School and the exhibition.
After the school Sezen wrote a very nice article about the School for the CERN Courier November issue. The article can be found at http://www.cerncourier.com/main/article/45/9/27

HAPPY ENDING

The traditional Farewell Banquet was organized on the last evening in the dining room especially prepared for the event. Invited guests were Dr. Jos Engelen, CERN Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Alexei Sissakian, JINR DG Designate, Professor Dietmar Kuhn of University of Innsbruck and Professor Walter Majerrotto, Director of the Institute of High-Energy Physics of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna. Here they are all seated at the "high table"


High table

The dinner ended by a very special - and delicious - desert, a Salzburger Nockerln, prepared by the chef, and brought in by the kitchen staff in a special ceremony.  With the lights turned off the desert was brought in on big plates decorated with firework illuminating the dining room.

After dinner Egil invited all the participants to join the large conference room where a party was set up. He gave a short farewell talk expressing special thanks to the local staff in the hotel who had helped in making the two weeks so pleasant. Bouquets of flowers were offered to the representative of the kitchen team and to Susan who especially paid attention to the ”bon déroulement”. during the whole School.  Markus Frischknecht, the Hotel Manager, highly deserved a big applause and a very nice book offered by JINR.

Anecdotes collected during the two weeks of the School were turned into reasons to congratulate some "deserving" students, and small prizes were offered by JINR and CERN.
After this "official" part it was time for the great master of ceremony, Richard Brauer, democratically elected by the students, to present an elegant summary of the school.

The musical part of the evening was animated by the DJ Graham Kilvington who had us all tapping our feet and swaying in concert with his music.

We would like to make a special mention and pass on our grateful thanks to “Thomas Kittelmann and his suspects” who contributed a lot to this evening. Students continued their performance with sketches and songs accompanied by good wine and beer. The performance culminated by a special song composed for the occasion, "The wild student song", sung by Rasmus Mackeprang - wow, what a nice voice – and backed by the participants forming a “professional” choir.

 

And we must certainly not forget to mention the impressive, lively and extremely acrobatic dance performance by Emmerich.  If he ever gets tired of physics, this would certainly be an excellent possibilty for change of career!

THANKS
We are sure that all the students join us in thanking the lecturers and discussion leaders for their inspiring lectures and discussions.
The organizers also want to thank the students for their eager and positive participation in all the school activities.


This was a great School