PARTICLE-larly Enriching Night at CERN!
After the 2010 European Researchers' Night, a contest was organised for its participants, asking them to write about their experience. We are now pleased to announce the winner: Yves-Marie Ducimetière, a 14-year-old student at the Lycée International de Ferney-Voltaire.
Yves-Marie Ducimetière.
On leaving, I knew nothing about this place, and the discovery made it all the more interesting. Upon arriving, a woman explained that their research looked at antimatter, or rather, the reason why it disappeared from our Universe – she then accompanied us inside. Amazingly, I found the place to be both friendly and serious. One physicist spoke passionately about the purpose of LHCb, in short: colliding particles in order to understand the Big Bang, the origin of the Universe. The numerous computers in the control room allowed them to monitor the beams of particles, as though we were in another dimension – in short, the researchers are passionate about their work and for an hour and a half (how time flies) I am just as enthusiastic. But time soon ran out and we had to leave, I was sad to leave this place that was no longer unknown to me!
The activities of CERN really interest me, and I when learned about the Researchers Night I was eager to sign up, and was far from disappointed! I really loved learning about the work done by the physicists and I shared their passion and curiosity during my visit and was interested until the very end! I discovered, with great pleasure, the motivation of the scientists at CERN. After that night, the research at CERN became – in my eyes – captivating, and it is now the source of many of my motivations (most notably my future choices), the night was an unforgettable experience with only one regret: 1h 30 is a very short time, 4 or 5 hours would have been better, but nevertheless, thank you for an unforgettable night and until next time……….. I hope!
Text written by: Yves-Marie Ducimetière – Age 14 - Lycée International de Ferney-Voltaire
