At the beginning of 2008 I read an email from my friend and colleague Ian Galloway inviting teachers of A Level Physics to an all expenses paid trip to CERN during the February half term. My first thought was all those Physics teachers will be fighting each other to get on that trip, so no chance for me, but I'll ask Ian anyway. To my amazement Ian said he didn't have enough people so of course I could go. Then I tentatively asked if Christopher could go too, as teaching maths is nearly like teaching Physics and the answer was yes again. Finally Ian asked me if I knew anyone else who would like to go and so our friend and colleague Michael Stuart also joined us. To this day I cannot fathom why there was so little uptake for what was the opportunity of a lifetime.
We flew from Gatwick on 18th February 2008 and my notes for that day just say:- "very excited!!!!!" Here is a picture of Mike and Ian waiting for the plane.
We flew from Gatwick on 18th February 2008 and my notes for that day just say:- "very excited!!!!!" Here is a picture of Mike and Ian waiting for the plane.
2008 was a special year for CERN because they were getting ready to close up the tunnel that houses the Large Hadron Collider. We were some of the last people to enter the tunnel and look at the amazing magnets and other equipment that would accelerate protons and then collide them at a rate of 40,000,000 times a second.
The first thing to say about CERN is that it is just about the best place for learning that you could possibly imagine. It is like a university campus with halls of residence, lecture theatres and communal eating areas; but, unlike a university, it is full of brilliantly clever people. CERN has been responsible for over fifty Physics Nobel Prize winners and Mike assured me that this gentleman was one of them.
The first thing to say about CERN is that it is just about the best place for learning that you could possibly imagine. It is like a university campus with halls of residence, lecture theatres and communal eating areas; but, unlike a university, it is full of brilliantly clever people. CERN has been responsible for over fifty Physics Nobel Prize winners and Mike assured me that this gentleman was one of them.
Our programme included lectures, a visit to the ATLAS detector and the Large Hadron Collider as well as a trip to the Antimatter factory; a walk round the garden and museum; and leisure visits to Geneva.
Well, the lectures were amazing, particularly the one called Particle Physics and Cosmology in the 20th Century. I discovered that the Science education I had received, and was also teaching, stopped at about 1932. It was really hard to make up that seventy years in a two hour lecture, but very exhilarating. We learned of Einstein's biggest blunder; Olbers' paradox, and of course the famous Dirac equation; all before lunch.
Well, the lectures were amazing, particularly the one called Particle Physics and Cosmology in the 20th Century. I discovered that the Science education I had received, and was also teaching, stopped at about 1932. It was really hard to make up that seventy years in a two hour lecture, but very exhilarating. We learned of Einstein's biggest blunder; Olbers' paradox, and of course the famous Dirac equation; all before lunch.
Then it was time to go and look at the Large Hadron Collider.
It is a 27km ring of superconducting magnets which require a temperature colder than outer space and it is the largest particle accelerator in the world. The ring is situated in a tunnel about 100m below ground. The LHC is helping physicists unravel mysteries of dark matter and dark energy and of course the LHC enabled the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. The detector responsible was ATLAS and here is what it looks like:
The people in hard hats give an idea of the size of the thing. It is 7000 tonnes and is the largest volume particle detector ever constructed. And I have seen it. With my own eyes. Me. The experiment that discovered the Higgs boson.
And we travelled to the border.
And we travelled to the border.
CERN is an open laboratory, which means that all their research is available to everyone. Some of the people were a little bit sensitive to suggestions that their findings were of little immediate use, but really - who cares? The place is totally amazing.
Anyway, there is one thing that was invented at CERN that has changed the world completely; and the ideals of CERN ensured that this invention could not be exploited by an individual company. We all went and stood in the corridor where the World Wide Web was invented, and paid homage to Tim Berners-Lee.
Anyway, there is one thing that was invented at CERN that has changed the world completely; and the ideals of CERN ensured that this invention could not be exploited by an individual company. We all went and stood in the corridor where the World Wide Web was invented, and paid homage to Tim Berners-Lee.
CERN has a museum and garden where we wandered and gazed at bubble chambers and pistons and attempted to look intelligent.
Then we spent a whole day contemplating the mysteries of antimatter, and there are a lot of mysteries to contemplate - including why is there no antimatter anywhere in the universe? The antimatter factory at CERN has an antiproton decelerator which decelerates them to 10% speed of light so they can be used to study antihydrogen and antiprotonic helium. So there we have it. If you want a factual account of antimatter do not read Angels and Demons.
As it was winter we were able to go into the antimatter factory, as they only manufacture antiparticles in the summer when electricity is cheaper. To be honest it resembled a very large shed that just happened to have canisters of liquid helium lying about outside.
As it was winter we were able to go into the antimatter factory, as they only manufacture antiparticles in the summer when electricity is cheaper. To be honest it resembled a very large shed that just happened to have canisters of liquid helium lying about outside.
At the end of the nineteenth century there was a widespread view that most of the grand underlying principles of physics had been established. Scientists spent the twentieth century showing that we don't even know what the grand underlying principles of physics are.
The scientists at CERN are doing their best to find out.
The scientists at CERN are doing their best to find out.