Tomorrow’s Scientists and Engineers Visit CERN

Physics and Engineering students at Cronton Sixth Form College had a wonderful learning experience during a spectacular visit to CERN in Geneva, the biggest physics laboratory in the world.
CERN employs around 10,000 physicists, engineers and computer scientists. It is home to the Large Hadron Collider; the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider, most complex experimental facility ever built, and the largest single machine in the world.

36 students and accompanying staff travelled to Switzerland for the three day trip of education and cultural discovery.
At CERN, the group enjoyed fantastic exhibitions, which including a 360 degree multimedia experience tracing the history of the universe. A CERN research scientist delivered expert talks to the students and provided a tour of the computing cluster, which houses one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. The students also got to see the world famous Antiproton Decelerator, a unique machine which allows for studies of antimatter.

Importantly, the students also gained an understanding of possible career paths following their studies. They were able to ask about possible job and research roles, raising the possibility of CERN one day becoming a place of work for the future scientists and engineers.

The group also had the opportunity to take in the Swiss culture, enjoying an evening of Swiss music, yodelling and alpine horns, while dining on fondue. They also spent time enjoying fun bonding activities such as bowling, pizza and pool.

Cronton Science tutor David Petticrew said, “This was a fantastic opportunity for our students, they had the chance to observe this amazing research facility at the forefront of the field. Feedback from our students has been overwhelmingly positive and they have come back to college extremely motivated with lots of ideas for their college research projects. Hopefully, in the future some of our students will return to CERN to do their own research.”