SCIENTISTS at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus are preparing to meet thousands of visitors this summer as they prepare for their biggest open day ever.

The site is home to 150 organisations, including the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, the European Space Agency, Diamond Light Source and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and is set to open its doors on July 8 and July 11.

The family-friendly event will thrust pioneering research into the spotlight, showcasing lasers, nanotechnology, space missions, dinosaur bones, 3D printing and new treatments for diseases such as cancer and HIV.

Organisers are expecting 10,000 members of the public to attend, as well as 1,500 schoolchildren.

Diamond Light Source is a powerful X-ray facility – called a synchrotron – that functions like a giant microscope allowing scientists to analyse materials at atomic level.

It does this by speeding up electrons around a circuit and directing the X-rays that are emitted into “beamlines”, where the light is focused on samples in a laboratory.

A spokeswoman for the facility, Lorna Campbell, said on previous open days it attracted about 300 people.

She said: “Everyone is very excited about the open day because there is a lot of research going on here. In one beamline, you might have someone looking at the bones of a dinosaur and in others, you have people looking at pieces of the Mary Rose, or a virus, all on the same day.”

Dr Claire Murray, a support scientist, said there was also growing interest in the “long duration” experiments that could last for years.

She said it could help develop new technologies, such as better mobile phone batteries that do not lose their charge over time.

She added: “With those kinds of experiments, you need to test materials over a longer period of time so you can understand their behaviour.

“This is the first facility in the world to be set up for this specific purpose.”

On show during the open day will be exploding mini volcanoes, huge dinosaur skeletons and Lego models of the facility’s scientific instruments.

There will also be “liquid nitrogen ice cream”, rocket building, DNA extraction from strawberries and hydrogen-powered cars.

For the first time, there will also be a special exhibit on human activity at the campus site – from the Stone Age, to its use as an RAF base, to the present day.

Dave Wilsher, manager of metrology – the study of measurements – and 3D printing at the STFC’s buildings in the Harwell campus, will also be showing people how to create 3D models of their faces to take home.

Mr Wilsher said the facility had both plastic and metal 3D printers, which could produce complex objects, including his “rotating gear cube”, that did not require assembly.

Part of his job involves measuring and testing components for major schemes, such as the ALMA Project telescopes in Hawaii, to make sure they will work properly.

He added: “A part in each telescope over there will have been tested here.”

For more information about the open day, including how to book tickets, visit harwellcampus.com/come-to-harwell/open-days