Oban students enjoy ‘out of this world’ science trip
Students from Oban High School have been inspired by a visit to CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider.
The visit to Geneva was the second in two years for OHS Higher and Advance Higher Physics students to the research facility that found the Higgs boson and invented the World Wide Web.
Scientific breakthroughs such as the discovery of the Higgs boson require experimental machines on the large scale, and the students gained an appreciation of the technical and engineering challenges that the multinational experimental collaborations at CERN face.
Ryan from S5 said: ‘The facilities the scientists have are out of this world. The biggest machine in the world is looking for the smallest particles in the universe.
‘My highlight was having lunch in the cafeteria and knowing at least one Nobel Prize winner was also in there.’
The Oban High School students’ visit was led by a member of the CERN community who talked from personal experience about their contribution to CERN’s research programme.
Science and Technology Facilities Council executive chairman Professor Mark Thomson said: ‘The scale of the science and technology at CERN is awe-inspiring.
‘There is no doubt that seeing it at first hand, and meeting the people who work on the experiments, can influence young people’s future education and career choices.’
The three-day trip also included tours of the United Nations, the International Red Cross and the History of Science museum.