Last week’s announcement about Ireland joining CERN reminded me that I should have advertised the annual Particle Physics Masterclass at Maynooth University long before now, not least because I’m actually teaching particle physics this year. My only excuse is that I’m old and forgetful. Anyway, better late than never; there’s still almost a week until the registration closes.
Since 2012 the Department of Theoretical Physics hosted the International Particle Physics Masterclasses for secondary school students each spring (except for 2020 when it was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions). Now the Department of Theoretical Physics is no more, having been incorporated last year into the Department of Physics, but the Particle Physics Masterclasses continue; the next event will be on Tuesday 18 March 2025.
These Masterclasses give secondary school students the opportunity to discover the world of quarks and leptons for themselves, by performing measurements on real data from CERN, meeting active particle physics researchers and linking up with like-minded students from other countries. We will join thousands of other secondary school students at more than 100 universities and laboratories around Europe and worldwide in a programme stretching over four weeks.
Physics at the most fundamental level – the smallest and most basic building blocks of matter – is an exotic world. But a few introductory talks and working with data from CERN will give the students insight into the fundamental particles of matter and the forces between them, as well as what went on during the Big Bang.
In the morning the students are introduced to particle physics, experiments and detectors in lectures given by active particle physics researchers. After an early lunch, they work on their own with data from the ALICE detector at CERN. Afterwards they participate in a video conference with students from other countries and moderators at CERN, where they discuss and compare their results. For more information on the masterclasses, see the International Masterclasses web site.
You can find more information about the event here and you can register here. Hurry up though as the deadline for registration is the end of this month, i.e. this Friday, February 28th!
In the Dark 