Yesterday afternoon's lecture from the winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, Steven Weinberg, was amazing. The Globe of Science and Innovation (the venue for the talk) was so full that people were being turned back and weren't allowed in. Admittedly I was not very familiar with the subject content of the lecture, but to be in the presence of such an interesting Physics speaker was amazing. He weaved a story through his lecture and it was really a moment I won't forget. CERN is just an unbelievable place.
This week has seen the start of our working groups on teacher projects. I have decided to interview female physicists that work at CERN and come up with some classroom activities to promote the amazing opportunities available to female scientists. I will be bringing to you some of the profiles next week, and hopefully some video also.
I am really looking forward to the second part of Rolf Landua's lecture on antimatter, and the experiments that are taking place in the "Antimatter Factory", which is also known as the antiproton decelerator (AD). Every particle that we know, electron, proton etc has an antimatter equivalent. Electrons have positrons as there antimatter. As far as physicists can tell the matter and antimatter pairs are identical, apart from some minor intrinsic values, such as their charge. At the antimatter factory they have created antiprotons (negatively charged protons) and antihydrogen atoms also. If you have read or seen Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, then you may be under the wrong impression. Although antimatter has been created at CERN, there is no way that 1 g of it could be produced. The AD on average will only produce 1 pair of proton/antiproton out of 250 000 collisions!
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Steven Weinberg
![Steven Weinberg](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zygWtoxPU70/SlTq5H_IGHI/AAAAAAAAACo/NiTyahnXoJY/S240/Steven+Weinberg.jpg)
Winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics
The Geneva Treasure Hunt
The Standard Model
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Q: What is France famous for?
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Look...I'm in the Collider!
First Day at CERN
LHC Dipole Magnet @ CERN
Hi Juliana
ReplyDeleteHow are you going to keep this pace up for 3 weeks? You'll need a holiday to get over it!
Don't forget time to chill out.
It's nice to be on holiday now.
One of my students asked an interesting question on our last day.
What would happen to your finger if you put it in front of atoms travelling at the speed of light.
I told him to wait until you get back with all the answers.
Did you get Steven Weinberg's autograph?
Cheers
Ric
Hi Ric,
ReplyDeletehaving a brilliant time here, and its fast approaching, only 1-ish weeks to go and then I am home. Its very fast paced here and its good to relax in the evenings, but days are jam packed! The funny thing about the question your student asked, is that we have already asked that in our group session!! But what a great question, I will definitely be happy to field that one!
Unfortunately I didn't get an opportunity to ask for Steven Weinberg's autograph, its a shame.
Have a relaxing holiday!!