Friday, May 30, 2014, 7:30 p.m.

This event is sold out. Tickets may become available on a first-come, first-served basis through a standby line. Visit the Museum's admission desk after 10.30 to secure a position in the standby line.

With director Mark Levinson, producer and physicist David Kaplan, cinematographer Claudia Raschke-Robinson, and physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed in person 

Dir. Mark Levinson. 2013, 99 mins. DCP. With Savas Dimopoulos, Nima Arkani-Hamed, Fabiola Gianotti, Monica Dunford. Edited by Walter Murch. Imagine watching Edison turn on the first light bulb, or Franklin receive the first jolt of electricity. Particle Fever is a front-row ride to one of the most important scientific discoveries of our age, following the scientists who collaborated on the biggest and most expensive scientific experiment in history: the discovery of the elusive Higgs boson—the final particle to complete the Standard Model of Particle Physics. As they seek to unravel the mysteries of the universe, 10,000 scientists from over 100 countries joined forces in pursuit of a single goal: to recreate conditions that existed just moments after the Big Bang and find the Higgs boson, potentially explaining the origin of all matter. But our heroes confront an even bigger challenge: have we reached our limit in understanding why we exist? One of the most critically acclaimed science films in years, Particle Fever was made with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 

The screening will be followed by a discussion with director Mark Levinson, a physicist turned filmmaker whose wrote and directed the feature film Prisoner of Time; theoretical particle physicist David Kaplan, the initiator and producer of Particle Fever; cinematographer Claudia Raschke who has worked on feature films and documentaries for more than 20 years; and Nima Arkani-Hamed, one of the world’s leading particle physicists, whose research examines gravity, extra dimensions of space, and string theory.

Tickets: $25 public ($15 Museum members).