Explaining spectroscopy to a lecture hall filled with elementary students is quite a challenge, but ELEMENTS’ Principal Investigator Camilla Juul Hansen happily took on the task. On the 20th anniversary of the Children’s University in Frankfurt, she guided 3000 excited attendees through a journey exploring the history of astronomy and the discovery of elements in the universe.

With the assistance of experimental physicist Tanja Heftrich, the children learned about the colors of light, how telescopes work, and that different elements are visible in different spectra. Judging from their excitement and their performance in the quizzes, many students share our enthusiasm for the formation of elements.

Learn more about this year’s Children’s University here.