Our Year 12 Physics students have been taking part in a particle physics masterclass at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory. They started the morning with a series of talks followed by a fascinating tour of the ISIS muon and neutron source before a data workshop in the afternoon. All the tour guides were women scientists, which was very inspiring in recognition of International Women’s Day.

Speaking about the trip, some of the students in attendance (Maya, Jocelyn, Alyssa & Megan) said:

“It was snowing almost as much as it was raining neutrons when we arrived at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory. The atmosphere was electric as our interest in particle colliders was accelerated from the start. As muons flew in all directions, we had a very positive experience learning the structure of the standard model and walking around both targets in the ISIS accelerator. Coding with python enlightened us on how meticulously data is processed and how the Higgs boson particle was confirmed, almost half a century after its conjecture”