What? Mr. Richardson spent four days at CERN in Geneva? What exactly was he doing there? And what is CERN anyway? CERN is the European Centre for Nuclear Research, home to the world-famous Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Mr. Richardson was fortunate enough to attend the UK Teacher Programme, provided by the STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council). This programme sends 30 UK teachers to CERN to learn about its groundbreaking work and return to share their insights. Hence, this article! The Large Hadron Collider is a colossal particle physics experiment where thousands of scientists and engineers collaborate to unlock the secrets of the universe. As the name suggests, it accelerates particles to nearly the speed of light—99.999999% of it, to be exact. These particles are then smashed into others traveling in the opposite direction inside a massive machine that’s huge: the LHC is 27 kilometers in circumference and so large it crosses the Swiss-French border! When particles collide, they release incredible amounts of energy. That energy is used to create new particles. Imagine smashing two apples together at high speed—not to produce apple juice, but to create bananas or oranges! These new particles exist only for a fleeting moment but are detected by enormous particle detectors. The largest of these, ATLAS, is comparable to half the size of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris… Remarkably, the entire collider sits 100 meters underground. CERN is also home to an antimatter factory. Antimatter is notoriously difficult to produce, as it annihilates upon contact with normal matter, releasing energy. But how does all this benefit you? Well, CERN is where the World Wide Web was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Mr. Richardson even saw the very machine that first hosted the internet—it even had a sign saying, “Do not turn off”! Hopefully, Mr. Richardson’s experience will inspire some of his students to dream big and maybe even work at CERN one day, continuing the quest to uncover the secrets of the universe.
