Dauntsey’s physicists take a trip to CERN

A group of Upper Sixth Physics pupils from Dauntsey’s has just returned from a trip to CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) in Geneva.

Highlights of the trip included visiting the two permanent exhibitions; the Universe of Particles and Microcosm and a tour of the Antimatter Factory which showcases decelerators (rather than accelerators), creating and taming antiprotons for use in antimatter experiments.

Reporting back on the trip, one of the pupils said: “It was fascinating to learn about the early days of CERN in the 1950s and 60s and see images of physics luminaries such as Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, who both contributed to the foundation of CERN. Photographs of early committee meetings with suited men wreathed in pipe smoke reminded us that society was rather different back then. Our group was made up of 11 male and 10 female physicists!”

James Johns, Head of Physics, Dauntsey’s, added: “It was a wonderful opportunity for these young physicists to learn about CERN’s history, from its origins through to more recent events including the invention of the World Wide Web by Tim Werners-Lee and the discovery of the Higgs boson. The pupils was especially interested to hear that that physicists are one of the smallest groups of specialists at CERN (the biggest group are engineers). This served as a surprising reminder that essentially CERN is a piece of physics equipment (albeit a very large and complex one!).”