From CERN to VENUS Express


Participants in the 'Schweizer Jugendforscht' projects at CERN under the supervision of Günther Dissertori, professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) and other members of ETH Zürich, Werner Lustermann and Michael Dittmar.

In Switzerland, as in many other countries, this year has seen a long list of activities, celebrating the centenary of Einstein's 'Annus mirabilis'. Having formerly employed Einstein, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Bern made its contribution by sponsoring a special 'study week' for young high-school students, under the tutorship of 'Schweizer Jugendforscht', an organisation which supports the scientific activities of very talented young people. The organisers chose 'Mission to Jupiter's Moon, Europa' as the general theme for this study week.

From 2 to 8 October 2005 several groups of students (between 16 and 19 years old) had to investigate some mission-related questions, ranging from the choice of the orbit and different ways of exploring Europa's icy surface, to the impact of cosmic rays and even the financial issues relating to a possible future mission. The students were hosted by groups from the Universities of Bern and Fribourg, ETH Zürich, the University of Zürich, PSI and CERN. The CERN team, consisting of nine pupils from all over Switzerland, was supervised by members of the Institute for Particle Physics of ETH Zürich and by Dietrich Schinzel from the PH Department.

During their intense week at CERN the students got the opportunity to measure the angular and energy distribution of cosmic muons, to investigate the properties of Lead Tungstate Crystals (which are used for the electromagnetic calorimeter of CMS) and their response to cosmic muons, and finally, to learn about modern Monte Carlo simulations which model the interactions of particles with matter. Definitely among the most exciting moments were their visits to the ATLAS and CMS construction sites.

At the end of the week all the groups met in Bern to present their results. The audience was presented with very lively, interesting and high-quality talks, motivated also by the fact that the best presentation would be rewarded with a special prize: a visit to the ESA control centre in Darmstadt (Germany) to follow the launch of the ESA mission 'Venus Express' at the beginning of November.
And guess who won the prize? The CERN team with a presentation of their simulation studies! The foundations for future careers as particle physicists have been laid!