Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

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Day Trip to Harwell

Posted in Education, Science Politics with tags Apprenticeships, Physics, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, STFC on April 1, 2014 by telescoper

Only time for a quick post as I’ve just got back from a visit to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory which is located at Harwell (in the heart of the Midlands).

I was there to find out about the Science and Technology Facilities Council‘s Apprenticeship scheme, as we are planning to introduce a similar scheme at the University of Sussex and needed some advice about how to set it up. I hope to write more about that in due course.

Anyway, it was a very informative and useful visit with the added bonus that we also got an impromptu guided tour of the Diamond Light Source (and its associated workshops where some of the current STFC apprentices are employed). The Diamond Light Source is actually shut down at the moment so various upgrades can be performed, and we were therefore allowed up close to where the beam lines are. That was very interesting indeed, especially when I saw that special devices are apparently deployed to counteract the effects of Cold Dark Matter..

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The Cosener’s House

Posted in Biographical, Science Politics with tags Abingdon, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, STFC, The Cosener's House on May 9, 2013 by telescoper

Back in Brighton after a busy but productive day-and-a-half in Abingdon discussing the future of SEPNET of which more soon. I just have time to post a few pictures of the place I was staying, The Cosener’s House.

Incidentally, being fascinated by words, I just looked up “cosener” on the online Oxford English Dictionary and found that it is a common variant of the word “cozener” which means a “deceiver, cheat or impostor”. I felt quite at home there…

The place is right next to the River Thames, which runs along the bottom of the pleasant garden adjacent to the house. I hadn’t realized that the whole establishment is run by the Science and Technology Facilities Council and is much frequented by users of various large scientific facilities (such as ISIS and the Diamond Light Source) situated nearby at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL).

The particle physicists among us were quite familiar with The Cosener’s House owing to the connection with RAL but although I’ve done quite a few STFC panels I’ve never been there before. Anyway, as you can see, it’s a pleasant enough location and it met with my particular strong approval because of the splendid black pudding available at breakfast!