The group of six A Level physics students, all aged 16-18, will spend a day at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research and the world’s largest particle physics laboratory.
Leading physicists from universities and research facilities from around the world are based there, probing the fundamental structure of the universe and seeking answers to questions such as ‘How did the universe start and what is it made of?’
CERN’s main function is to provide the particle accelerators and other infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research — as a result, numerous experiments have been constructed there. Most famously it is home to the Large Hadron Collider and birthplace of the World Wide Web.
Particle physics is a key element of the A Level Physics curriculum so the students will be able to gain firsthand experience of what they would normally see only in textbooks.