Seven students of BIRLA VIDYA NIKETAN, along with Ms. Paramjit Kaur, the Physics teacher - through the LIFE LAB FOUNDATIONS- visited CERN, Geneva which is considered to be the Mecca of particle physicists.
An introduction to the main objectives and work done in CERN was given by the trip organizer , Dr. Mick Storr, who then escorted them to The Globe, a building of the shape of a massive sphere made of wood which was an exhibition cum museum. The students saw at the exhibits and saw a light and sound show which was based on the Big Bang and CERN’s endeavor of knowing more about particles and universe.
In the five day long trip the studentd attended lectures from world renowned physicists like Sir John Ellis (Gravitational Waves and Super symmetry), Sir Piotr Traczk (expert on CMS technology), Mr.Daniel Denegri (Founding father of the CMS experiment) and Mr.Simone Gilardoni( Expert on Accelerator technology) and were exposed to the world of Physics. They even got the opportunities to visit the various facilities linked with the Large Hadron Colidere ( the largest machine on the Earth) at CERN, such as the ATLAS control centre, SM-18( Magnet Test Facility) LEIR( Low Energy Ion Ring), The now defunct Synchrocyclotron and the CERN data centre.
The enlightened students tried building their own cloud chamber in a workshop and got the opportunity to interact with Dr. S Banerjee, a computer systems specialist who spoke to them about India’s contribution to the Mecca of Particle Physics. The students even got a chance to visit the UN Headquarters at Geneva and know how thw UNHCR functions.
The entire trip was packed with information and activity with the evenings reserved for exploring Geneva and experiencing its beauty and rich history.