School students have virtual interaction with CERN scientists

 Aparna Banerji 

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 21

Barring space missions to the Moon and Mars, if a list of other major scientific breakthroughs which have been able to capture the imagination of the people across the world is made, research concerning the anti-matter shall certainly top the list. 

Particle physics, the enigmatic pursuit to find the Higgs Boson or God Particle and a close look into the work of the scientists at the premier scientific institute CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), Switzerland, made its way into the life of a bunch of school students in Jalandhar.

The local MGN Public School in Urban Estate claims it has become the first institute in India to establish a video link with CERN where top scientists from the organisation interacted with the students of the school.  

Master class students in India and Nepal, through video conferencing, enjoyed a virtual visit to CERN and interacted with Dr Barbara of Spain and Dr Steve of the USA from the Atlas Visitor Centre in CERN, Switzerland. While CERN and its scientists got popularity - with the research to find the God Particle featuring an intriguing twist in noted fiction writer Dan Brown’s popular novel “Angels and Demons”, which even got made into a film.

The two-day seminar organised by the International Particle Physics Outreach Group and the organising team of Master Class in South Asia, in collaboration with CERN, Switzerland, along with Space Ventures, India, concluded at the school on Saturday. 

The students performed an exercise in analysing the actual data from CERN experiments. 

The students from India and Nepal also asked these scientists questions and got detailed answers. The CERN will be active again in January next year for more experiments on proton-proton collisions and search for the sixth boson. 

The seminar concluded with a careers session which was coordinated by Dr Ravjeet Kour (Conventry University, UK), Prof Suman Bala Beri (Punjab University), Dr Ashok Sharma (Delhi University), research scholar Dr Ashutosh (Delhi University) and Dr Parminder Singh Sandhu (Astern University). 

The seminar concluded with the school principal S. Jatinder Singh honouring these physicists. 

Talking to The Tribune, the principal said, “It was one of a kind opportunity from which the students will benefit greatly. The students got a precious insight into the scientific experimentation at CERN. The scientists spoke to them about the dark matter and anti-matter. In fact, they were even told to figure out the data based on CERN experiments during a workshop held on the occasion. It was an unforgettable experience for them and us.”