King’s Physicists explore CERN in Geneva

Fourteen Upper Sixth Physicists spent February Half-term at CERN, one of the world’s largest centres for scientific research, in Geneva.

Head of Physics, Mr Knights reflected on the trip:

The students flew to Geneva from Birmingham Airport on Saturday afternoon. We arrived in Geneva in the early evening and enjoyed a relaxing evening together at the hotel in the centre of Geneva.

On Sunday we spent the day touring the beautiful city of Geneva. In small groups the students planned their tour routes of key landmarks they wanted to visit throughout the day, regularly checking in with each other and staff. Following a long day of sightseeing, pupils insisted on a Mcdonald’s (!) for their evening meal. A House of Games quiz followed this with Mr. Knights taking the place of Richard Osman.

The following day pupils enjoyed a full day at CERN, experiencing the wonders of this incredible museum and receiving a tour of the control room, research and engineering facilities. In the evening, the students experienced swiss cuisine on a trip back into the centre of Geneva. It was an early start on Tuesday for the flight back home.

 Dr. Petchsingh – A level physics teacher who attended the trip said,

“This was my first visit to CERN and as a physicist, I felt privileged to share this with fellow colleagues and students who hold a similar passion for physics. It was lovely to be able to interact with our students out of the classroom environment and to discuss with them the different aspects of the important research work going on there. We all came back inspired by our experience which will help us further with our individual pursuit of the subject.”

Upper Sixth Student Micah Browne said, “Despite CERN being a collection of large concrete warehouses filled with PHD students and magnets the overall experience of visiting a world-class science experiment was one I will never forget.

CERN was everything I imagined, which was large, complex-looking pieces of equipment that carried research and produced an astronomical amount of data that we can’t comprehend. The exposure to practical physics and the research side of it was inspiring and encouraged challenging questions which were always happily answered. Apart from CERN Geneva was a city of natural beauty, set in the mountains by a lake every street we travelled through was a postcard picture in the making. I will always look back fondly about the CERN trip and would suggest that everyone visits Geneva and CERN!”