Engineering and Physics students visit CERN

On 8 April 2011, 100 students from the University of Sheffield departments of Physics and Engineering left Sheffield and headed for Geneva.

They visited SM18, which is the location where the Super-Conducting magnets are constructed and trained for use in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Students also saw the control room of A Toroidal Lhc ApparatuS (ATLAS), which is one of the experiments at CERN, and were shown a 3D film of the construction of the ATLAS experiment.

Students were also treated to a lecture on Super-Symmetry by two PhD students before being given a tour of CERN. This included seeing the location of the development of the World Wide Web, as well as the bubble chambers which were once used as particle detectors prior to the LHC.

The group also managed some cultural activities during their trip including visits to the Science Museum, the Natural History museum, the UN European HQ, the art gallery, the Cathedral, the University of Geneva and the Botanical gardens.

The event was a massive success and was described by one of the attendees as "a fantastically enjoyable experience".