December 18, 2014 2.46 pm This story is over 124 months old

Lincoln students visit Hadron Collider for lesson of a lifetime

Accelerating science: Lucky Lincoln sixth form students got the physics lesson of a lifetime when they took a trip to Switzerland.
Pupils from a Lincoln school have made the trip of a lifetime to the laboratories where some of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of human history were made.

Lincoln sixth formers got the physics lesson of a lifetime when they visited the home of some of the biggest scientific breakthroughs in history.

The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (known as CERN), established in 1954, was the birthplace of the world wide web, and has been the site of numerous scientific breakthroughs – from the so-called “God Particle” to creating anti-matter.

The 20 physics students from William Farr C of E Comprehensive School visited CERN in Geneva attending lectures, visited the accelerator control room and even went underground to see the Hadron Collider.

During the visit they also took a minibus to a site in France – CERN operates a network of six accelerators and a decelerator which are on a 27km ring underground that spans into France – to see an experiment being conducted.

The 20 physics students from William Farr C of E Comprehensive School visited CERN, the home of the Hadron Collider.

The 20 physics students from William Farr C of E Comprehensive School visited CERN, the home of the Hadron Collider.

CERN hosts some 12,313 fellows, associates, apprentices as well as visiting scientists and engineers representing 608 universities and research facilities and 113 nationalities.

The students even had the opportunity to eat in staff canteen, amongst some of the 2,500 staff members who work there.

It is the second time students from the school have visited the facility.

During the stay in Switzerland the William Farr pupils also visited the Einstein museum and the United Nations.

The group of 20 Physics students from William Farr.

The group of 20 Physics students from William Farr.

William Farr head of physics Alia Wiley, who escorted the students on the trip, said: “It was superb to hear the students in the evenings, and while we travelled, talking about physics and trying to get their heads around the complexities of the physics they know and how this applies to the experiments they had seen.

“Some of the students were fascinated by the engineering and others by the beauty of the science being conducted within.

“Most importantly the students all seem to get something profound from the trip and I hope it has inspired their interest in science.”