Want to know the people behind the project? Meet the Cosmic Sensation-crew:

“Use cosmic rays to make music!”. It was an idea he had held for some time when, in 2008, Sijbrand de Jong decided to compete for the Academic Year Award 2009. This €100.000 prize is awarded to the team boasting the best plan for communicating top-science to a large public. He decided to use his idea of making cosmic music to do just that.

First, however, Sijbrand needed a team. Colleague Charles and PhD-students José, Harm and Antje were quick to join! But Sijbrand knew very well that a team comprised of only physicists would face difficulties translating their ideas in such a way that they would be understandable for a larger audience. While teaching an extracurricular course on fundamental particles to students from a wide variety of backgrounds he found what he needed: students from different disciplines but with a keen interest for cosmic rays. So it came to be that Kyra, Indra, Maurice, Lise, Jessie, Jos, Max & Frank joined the team. The physical science combined with their background ranging from philosophy to law enabled the team to win the Academic Year Award 2009!

Of course, we are not alone. Barney Broomer joined early in the process and used his vast technological expertise to help shape the project and ensure our victory. At the moment he is orchestrating the mix of sounds and visuals that we’ll be using at the Cosmic Sensation event. The visuals that we’ll project inside the dome will be made by an international community surrounding programming-engine ‘Blender’. Blender-guru Dalai Felinto has agreed to help us with the programming. Finally, from the Radboud University communication section, Jeroen Buijs and Pim van Zanen have come to aid us in communicating our message to the world. All these people are working together in one of the most spectacular educational projects ever!

Behind the scenes

To keep you up to date on the progress of the project, we’ll be posting a number of clips on this page. The first of those, about the construction of the detectors, has already been posted. The second movie will feature the work that is being done on audio: choosing the music, working with a label, preparing the music for cosmic remixing and the production of the CD. The third movie is all about visuals: how are they made? Who is Dalai Felinto? How does the projection technique work? A fourth clip will show you the production circus: who are the people involved, and what will the dome and the terrain look like? As the project continues, more clips will be announced. Return often and stay up-to-date!