Jean Alesi and his son Giuliano visited CERN

Jean Alesi, former F1 racing driver, and his kids visited CERN on Monday 1st February 2010. The Bulletin and the Video productions team had the opportunity to meet him. The video interview is transcribed for your convenience.
What attracted you to CERN, what was it that made you want to come?
We talked at home with the children about places to see close to us, like CERN, where they are seeking to reproduce the origins of the world. These things are so far removed from what we ordinarily think and talk about, that they captured our imagination and made us want to come see for ourselves.

We know that your son (Giuliano, 9 years) is interested in what is happening at CERN, so we'd like to ask him: how did he find out about it?
Giuliano: I am very interested in the technologies used in laboratories, and the exploration of the Universe. Plus, I wanted to see some of the incredible machines. I enjoyed my visit a lot. I found out about CERN from my mother. She showed me a video that I really liked, so I wanted to come to CERN. What I liked most was seeing these incredible enormous machines, built from thousands of tiny parts and with amazing things inside them: gases, lots of electricity and so on. Really fascinating stuff!

Are there any parallels between car racing and what goes on at CERN?
Yes, there are obvious similarities between the racing world and CERN. As race drivers, we are surrounded by technicians who make sure that we have the most competitive, advanced car possible. The control centre here is rather similar to what we have at the racetrack, where we have technicians constantly monitoring the readings from the telemetry equipment they have installed in the cars to monitor the condition of the engine, the suspension, the temperature of the tyres, all of the mechanical working parts of the car.

Watch the video:

by Emma Jones