Note: Video of this event is available in Real format. Part 1 | Part 2 .

On May 27, Brookhaven physicist Howard Gordon and a panel of local educators separated the science facts from the science fiction of the blockbuster movie “Angels & Demons.” The event attracted more than 200 audience members, including students, teachers, local residents, and Lab employees.

The film, based on Dan Brown’s best-selling novel, focuses on a plot to destroy the Vatican using antimatter stolen from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European particle physics laboratory CERN. During the Brookhaven event, Gordon, who works on the LHC’s ATLAS detector, highlighted the scientific themes of the movie and explained how they relate to the actual work of physicists.

The lecture was followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session with the audience. In addition to Gordon, panelists included Michael Rijssenbeek, Stony Brook University professor and ATLAS collaborator; Tania Entwistle, Ward Melville High School physics teacher; Paul Stengel, retired Shoreham-Wading River High School physics teacher; and James Ripka, Chemistry Director for the Science Teachers Association of New York State and a chemistry and forensics teacher at MacArthur High School.