Visit to CERN
As part of the award for the Outstanding STEM Technician, Henry Rae recently visited the CERN institute in Switzerland. Henry went 100 meters underground to see Atlas, one of the massive detectors for the Large Hadron Collider. The detector stands 10 stories high in diameter and is part of the largest machine ever built with a total diameter of 27 km.
Henry also visited the Antimatter Factory where they make the antihydrogen for collision experiments (Matter plus antimatter = annihilation of both and the release of gamma radiation). The Neutrino platform building was truly massive with enormous machines that try to detect incredibly small sub atomic particles that normally pass undetected through all normal matter.
Henry said “The whole experience was incredible and the hosts were fantastic in the way they explained how the programme worked. The majority of countries in the world work with CERN which in itself is amazing.”
Some of the most well-known offshoots invented at CERN were touch screens, medical scanners and the world wide web.