Inspiration was the name of the game for 30 Physics students visiting Harwell Science and Innovation Campus last Wednesday (26 June).

The Oxfordshire campus hosts a community of experts who are pioneering advances in Energy, Space, Health and Quantum Computing.  It’s a unique collaboration between government, academia and industry working to accelerate progress on the key issues of our time – from pandemic preparedness to clean energy.

Nicky Robinson Head of Physics said, “We had a fabulous day analysing data from the CERN large hadron collider and trying to identify the Higgs Boson. 

Students also took a live virtual tour of Yorkshire’s Boulby Mine – Britain’s deepest – with one of their on-site scientists. Through this we gained incredible insights into astrophysics looking at their dark matter experiments.  

Our grand finale was a tour of the Diamond Synchrotron, which works like a giant microscope. It harnesses the power of electrons to produce x-rays that scientists can use to study things as varied as vaccine development and volcano analysis, and so much more. Truly a mind-opening experience and we’re so grateful to everyone involved for running such a cool, awe-inspiring event.”