Success for Alleyn’s Physicists

Two Year 12 Alleyn’s Physics students, Charlotte and Martina, have been awarded coveted places on the CERN Summer School with their winning essays in the annual CERN Particle School Essay Competition.

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the largest and most respected centres for scientific research in the world. The Summer School is a unique opportunity for future physicists to be exposed to the life of researchers at CERN.

During the trip, held over four nights in Geneva this August, Charlotte and Martina will have the chance to work with like-minded peers under the guidance of CERN researchers (PhD students and lecturers). Through dedicated activities and lectures they will have access to data from the LHCb experiment at CERN and they’ll experience the fascinating day-to-day atmosphere of the CERN laboratory.

Many previous delegates have achieved undergraduate places at top universities, and some are now pursuing post-graduate studies in Physics or running start-ups in Silicon Valley.

The annual essay competition, held to secure a place on the sought-after trip, is open to Year 12 Physics students, who are interested in applying for Physics, Computing or Engineering at university.

Entrants had to research and write a short essay on an aspect of particle physics, no more than 800 words long, based on one of the following topics:

1. 'Is supersymmetry still relevant in dark matter searches?’
2. What is dark energy and dark matter?
3. Explore an engineering breakthrough that sets the LHC apart from previous particle accelerators.
4. Growing hints of lepton-universality violation: progress and implications.
5. Summarise a recent experimental particle physics paper for the educated layperson.

The Physics Department is very proud of Martina and Charlotte and all of the other Physics students who entered the competition. Each reflected our ROCCK values by seizing the opportunity, deepening their curiosity, and showing great courage by researching very advanced topics.