These two lectures for non-specialists will start with a short theoretical and historical overview:
- Why are antiparticles needed?
- Why is the symmetry between matter and antimatter so fundamental?
- What is the role of antimatter in cosmology?
It follows a tour of the many uses of antiparticles in experimental physics: as a tool in accelerators; as a probe inside atoms or nuclei; or as an object to study fundamental symmetries.
The lecture will then focus on the "antimatter" programme at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) at CERN, where large numbers of slow moving antihydrogen atoms have been produced for the first time. An outlook on present and potential future applications of antiparticles in science and our daily life will conclude the overview, hopefully within the allocated time.
