Microcosm Exhibit

Today started out with an information session and then a team building exercise about our expectations of the program. It was explained to us that CERN has four major goals that it would like to achieve. These four key areas include advancing research, training scientists, the transfer of technologies to the outside world and getting people from all nations together.

CERN was a concept that evolved from the end of the second world war. Physicists, like Oppenheimer, who worked on the Manhattan Project were a bit disillusioned with their creation of the nuclear bomb. European physicists in particular needed a place that allowed them to conduct world class research, without having to move to the US or Russia. So a commitment was made by member states in Europe to create this amazing facility to help not only scientific research but make peace and stability in the region.

It feels a bit daunting walking passed the office of Nobel Laureates and many wonderful Physicists who have made such amazing contributions to the world, including the World Wide Web, which was created at CERN.

The exhibition we visited today was all about CERN and had some amazing old gadgetry and paraphernalia. Check out some pictures from the exhibit, which is free to visit, on my facebook group.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow, as we go down about 100 m underground to go and take a look at one of the particle detectors, LHCb, that is part of the Large Hadron Collider. Go to
http://lhcb.web.cern.ch/lhcb/News%20of%20pit8/Pictures/LHCbVirtualTour/cern.htm
to find out more about the detector.

Although it is nearly 9 pm, the sun has still not set, the beauty of a European summer!

First Night at CERN

Wow! What a flight. My laptop is telling me it is now 3.30am in Perth. I have been up since 7.30am Saturday 27th June, with a few naps on the plane trip from Singapore to Zurich.

So about 30 hours after I left home I have arrived in Geneva. On my trip I had so many incidents that related to Physics! Of course the plane, but that funny stomach feeling when your normal force is less than your weight force and even the amazing architecture in Zurich Airport.

I arrived at CERN around lunch time. CERN is set between the picturesque Alps to the south, a vineyard to the west and the Jura Mountains to the north. Walking through the halls of the buildings you can't help but think of all the amazing people who have walked that same stretch and all the amazing things they have accomplished in a 50 year period.

On my way to CERN I met a Norwegian PhD student, who was going to CERN for 1 week. His research project was on quantum optics, so we had a great chat, even with my lack of Norwegian, thankfully he could speak English. That's what a I love about Europeans, they can speak, usually, more than one language! There are also a lot of summer school students, and we will be sharing some of their lectures also.

After a very enjoyable meet and greet with about 30 of the 40 people here for the High School Teacher Program and a great dinner, I am unbelievably ready for some sleep and I really can't wait to let all of you know about my time with the 'atom smashers', as one of my fellow physics teachers, at CERN, put it.

Bonne nuit :)

Well, it's now the night before and I am in the midst of washing and packing for my trip.

I can't express my excitement in words. In 48 hours I will be in one the most innovative places in the world. I am hoping to learn so much while I am at CERN. The most exciting thing for me is that I will get to see the Large Hadron Collider. This is the largest particle accelerators in the world! I can't wait to sit in the lectures and absorb all the information about cosmology and particle physics, which I will be able to share with my students, in Year 12 particularly.

Well it's time to continue packing, and I look forward to writing my first post from Geneva.

;)

Four Days Until Lift Off

Hi Everyone,

This is my first official post and I am really looking forward to jetting off on Saturday to go to Geneva. I will be at the European Nuclear Research Organization's main facility, CERN, by lunch time on Sunday.

I can't wait to share my science experiences with you all. Looking forward to meeting other high school physics teachers and sharing ideas and knowledge about education and physics.

Stay tuned for all the great times and physics fun to be had! Until then au revoir or auf wedersehen!