CERN Trip

A Level Physicists spent a weekend in Geneva to learn more about particle physics and cutting-edge scientific research.

On Friday, the girls visited the Swiss Plasma Centre, a world leader in fusion research and plasma applications, and one of only four fusion research facilities in Europe.  Students were given a tour of the Tokomak fusion reactor and a talk on the fusion process in stars, how it can be recreated on Earth, and the future of fusion technology.

Saturday featured a visit to CERN, the European Council for Nuclear Research, where students were given a guided tour from a Physicist working on one of the experiments. Following an in-depth talk on CERN’s research and how the large hadron collider works, our Physicists had the chance to look into the control centre for the entire collider before visiting one of the detector sites for the Alice experiment, which is dedicated to heavy-ion physics. After a lunch in the CERN canteen, the students explored the CERN Science Gateway exhibitions, offering them the opportunity to explore how CERN’s experiments reveal the mysteries of matter.

The girls ended the trip with a very rainy visit to Geneva Old Town and the History of Science Museum before returning to London armed with plenty of knowledge about nuclear physics, particle theory, and the real-world application of science.