A Welcome to New Readers and Final Thoughts

Hey World!

Welcome to my blog about my trip to CERN and Geneva, Switzerland. If this is the first entry that you have read, my name is Carolyn and I am a student at Phillips Academy Andover. I recently was a finalist for an award at my school called the Lorant Fellowship for the "Most Earnest Endeavor." As the award is described, it is awarded to the student with the "greatest fire in the belly to succeed." Because I was a finalist (one of the top three), my next step was to submit a proposal to take a trip somewhere to do something that followed a previously established interest. Since I had just taken College Physics at Andover and will be taking AP Physics next year, I decided to propose to travel to Switzerland to visit CERN and the largest particle accelerator ever made called the LHC. Please read my first entry of this blog for more details about the LHC, CERN and this trip. I was eventually sponsored by various Chairs at my school (the heads of the departments) to go to Switzerland. 

My purpose for the trip has been to go and find out about the LHC and then bring that information back to my community in a way that all of us "average" people, those who don't have PhD's in Physics, can understand. This blog is only the first step of that endeavor. I hope to write a newspaper article describing my trip and the Physics that I learned, and give a talk at school. The reason that I believe that it is important to bring this information back and to broadcast it like I am is because the experiment known as the LHC that is occurring at CERN is the most influential thing that has happened in Physics in a long time...it could have the most major impact on Physics since Newton's or Einstein's developments. In addition, I wanted to learn about the ways that the scientists have been coping with the problems that come from such a hugely international endeavor. I have been told during my trip that around 10,000 people worldwide are involved with the LHC experiment, and yet, despite the fact that they are all from different areas and those areas may have political tensions, the scientists have been able to find ways around those problems. Not only that, but the scientists have been working around those problems for 20 years. Of course, there is still politics involved as with anything that requires government funding and organization, but with the LHC, things still seem to work smoother than I might have expected. Perhaps, if we but take a look at the way these Physicists can work together and sacrifice for the common goal of building the LHC, we could learn something about how our governments can work better together as well.  

In addition, I have to mention one of the reasons I became interested in Physics in the first place. My grandfather worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico during World War II. I find this fact an interesting and slightly troubling detail, but his Physics background intrigues me. Of course, my grandfather was an extremely peaceful Physicist who somehow got caught up with the politics of his time. But, since I never met him, this trip and this summer was a way for me to get in touch with that Physics side of my family as well. 

I have to say that I have grown with this trip in ways that I never thought I would. I never realized how much I was in the Andover bubble until I left to go see a different lifestyle for a little while. In addition, I have been humbled by the people in whose presence I have recently found myself and I have learned about a world that I never knew existed...and yes, I do mean both the world of particle Physics and the world of the Physicists themselves. Finally, I have learned that the only way to accomplish anything in this world is to take action and ask about it. Had I sat idly by and not bothered to ask Katie if it would be possible for me to visit CERN, I would surely have missed this extraordinary opportunity. In fact, many people told me that there was no way a trip, such as this, could happen. Many believed that the Physicists wouldn't have the time nor would they care to sit down and teach a high school student what they were doing. Others thought that I might be able to go, but that I still just wouldn't be able to understand the Physics because it would be too complicated. Had I listened to those people, I would have missed this chance. 

But I didn't, and I am extremely glad I didn't. I made friends with Katie, ate lunch with her friends every day, met some of the best minds that the world of science has to offer and even went down underground to see the experiments themselves. I learned more Physics than I ever thought that I would ever learn...I mean, let's be serious, I had never heard of quarks, gluons, antimatter or Higgs bosons before I came to CERN. In addition, I got to travel to Geneva and practice my French. I think I spoke much more French in Geneva, in fact, than when I went to Paris for it seems that less people speak English in Geneva. Perfect! 

Of course, I can't be too corny and say that "my entire view of the world has completely changed." That would be unrealistic. All that I am saying is that when I open up a newspaper and see an article about the LHC, I'll read it. When anybody brings up CERN in a conversation, I'll be able to talk with them. When I walk into AP Physics this Fall, I'll be able to do that with a certain confidence, knowing that not all Physics is about the grade or the test, but that it's really something that's just, well, fascinating. 

I hope that you enjoy reading this blog, and that you learn a little bit while you read. If you ever go to Geneva, Switzerland in the near future, I would advise that you go to the Microcosm at the Reception Centre...it's a small museum that CERN created about the LHC experiment and it helped me tremendously with wrapping my head around all these Physics details. 

One last thing, if you are reading this blog and you don't feel you have time for the entire thing (I understand that it is long) I recommend that you read the entries titled "Day 1: Introduction to CERN, Steve Nahn and CMS," and "Day 3: John Ellis, the CERN Control Centre and the SM18 Magnet Facility." If you also have time, the entry titled "An Overview of CERN and the LHC Experiment" gives a good view of some of the Physics involved as well as the entry titled "Day 2: Katie, Seth Zenz and the ATLAS Experiment."

Thanks for reading!

-Carolyn