Yesterday I went on the eight hour round trip to visit CERN in Geneva, at the opposite end of Switzerland. Despite the long journey, it was totally worth it, if only to indulge my inner geek for a little while.
CERN is the name of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (the original name, which fitted with the abbreviation, was later changed) and it is the home of the Large Hadron Collider, which graced the news with tales of forming black holes and blowing up parts of France and Switzerland. Having determined from our guide, Ricardo – who was essentially a real-life Leonard from the Big Bang Theory (he also watches the programme and finds it funny!) – that we would be safe and no black holes would be formed, we went on with the tour and passed through various restricted area signs and warnings about radiation…
Our first stop was the Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR), which is very much the baby of the CERN family, as it actually fitted in a room above ground. Here Ricardo told us the theory of electromagnetism and banging teeny-tiny particles together. We asked what seemed like hundreds of questions over the tour and Ricardo admitted he liked our group for being so engaged. We felt so proud – we loved him too – and his passion about his work was plainly obvious for all to see, as well as generally being a nice chap, unafraid to admit that physicists do have a geeky image, but also know how to have fun (with new computers mainly…). From the feedback from the other group, we definitely got the better deal and it did make the trip.
We then went into one of the old control rooms, which Ricardo himself described as being like the deck of the Starship Enterprise (yay, vaguely Trekkie reference), as well as later admitting that if I attempted to speak in Klingon, there probably would be a group around to converse with.
Following that we went to look at the Linear Accelerator (linear because it goes in a straight line, rather than bending any corners) -LINAC. Apparently this is important for generating sufficient speed and energy of the relevant small particles (nowadays, commonly protons), which is sourced from the little bottle of hydrogen you can see below.
For those that were worried there was some huge dangerous source of crazy elements, do not fear – this little bottle is going to last a very, very long time.
Then we headed to the Computer Control Centre, where we were shown the first computer that created the internet. What was great was that there was a sticker on the mainframe essentially saying do not turn this computer off – imagine if they had, there would no longer be internet, or at least not as a know it today. Maybe I am my father's daughter after all...
Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the Large Hadron Collider, though that probably is to be expected, given how much the LHC is worth and the very relaxed nature of the tours (not at all like the UN Buildings, where passports and special ID were a must), however we did go into an exhibition before the tour and see a simulated version – so here is a picture to feel like you were there too!
Also just to prove that the physicists do have a sense of humour, we spotted this on the way out…
I love the blog. Good to know those trips to the science museum and Bletchley Park paid off!
ReplyDelete