A reproduction of the TJ-II sterallator stars in the hall of the Macroscopio building in the Science Park. The sculpture, designed by the Dutch artist Rick van Meel, was inaugurated yesterday by the Director of the Science Park, Luis Alcalá; the Director of the IFMIF-DONES España Consortium, Ángel Ibarra; the Deputy Regional Minister for Educational Development and Vocational Training of the Andalusian Regional Government, Pablo Quesada; and the CIEMAT representative, Teresa Estrada. Representatives of different institutions and organisations also attended the inauguration ceremony.

“Stellarator TJ-II” is the name of the piece recently acquired by the Science Park and which reinforces its close collaboration with the IFMIF-DONES Spain Consortium. The installation was part of the “Perspectives” exhibition at ART Rotterdam and has now been acquired by the Science Park.

The sculpture, about 5 x 5 meters in size, with 32 segments (white pieces) and 32 rings (gray pieces) with a toroidal shape, recreates the Toro-Junta II (TJ-II) fusion experiment found in the Laboratory National Fusion Center of Ciemat (Madrid). The TJ-II is a medium-sized stellarator and is one of the most relevant in Europe.

Luis Alcalá thanked the twenty institutional representatives for attending this event. In this way, the Park’s outreach commitment to IFMIF-DONES is further consolidated.

‘In this sculpture, I see the union of different aspects: of science and art, of Madrid and Granada, of research and technology in fusion, and of the permanent commitment of the Science Park to our project. It is satisfying to see the result of so many collaborations, Ángel Ibarra.

Rafael Quesada underlined how ‘marvellous’ it is that Granada is the capital of Andalusia regarding scientific dissemination. He took the opportunity to offer the development of training plans aligned with the interests of the future particle accelerator in Escúzar.

For her part, Teresa Estrada expressed her satisfaction at the installation of the sculpture dedicated to fusion energy, a sector that CIEMAT has been promoting for decades.

The inauguration ceremony concluded with a visit to the IFMIF-DONES exhibition in the Science Window of the Science Park.

PHOTOS: IFMIF-DONES and Science Park