Sometimes things happen fast....very fast

We left Italy on a sunny morning by taking the Mont Blanc tunnel - a road through the Alps under Mont Blanc. Its just over 7 miles long and the toll is quite expensive, but alternatives involve taking long routes over the Alps.

We popped out into bright sunlight just by the popular ski resort, Chamonix in France. As we hadn't got far to drive that day we decided to revisit Chamonix and wander around before it got too hot (we were in the middle of a very hot spell).

Although Chamonix is a very touristy town it still has lovely views of the mountains - especially of Mont Blanc to the south.

Our legs stretched we made a drive to a place I'd decided I wanted to try and visit on our return journey: CERN.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research or CERN for short, is located in a suburb of Geneva, very close to the French border. It was founded in 1954, and is the foremost centre for nuclear physics research in the world. It's home to the Large Hadron Collider, the biggest particle accelerator in the world, that can accelerate particles to 99.9% of light speed. 

You can't see the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), it runs for 27 km in a loop and is buried 100 metres underground in both Switzerland and France. The engineering to design, build and maintain a particle accelerator is mind boggling in itself. When accelerated particles will travel in a straight line. To keep them in a loop giant magnets are sited at various points. Particle collisions release phenomenonal amounts of energy, generating heat, so underground the temperature is kept to -271°c, colder than outer space.

If you are not a nuclear physicist you can still visit CERN. They have a Science Gateway, a free visitor centre where there are interactive exhibition spaces and auditoriums that try to explain some incredibly complex concepts in lay person terms. Even so its still complex stuff.

The Science Gateway, CERN

We arrived late morning and after registering on wifi, booked an English Language tour that would allow us to see the synchrocyclotron, the very first particle accelerator, installed in 1957 and the ATLAS control centre, where scientists and researchers use complex systems to observe the result of particle collisions. This was where the experiment to discover the Higgs bosun particle was discovered in 2012. All of this scientific endeavour is about increasing our understanding how our universe works by observing and studying particles created by almost light speed collisions. Billions of particles are created every second and some of these new particles may only exist for the blink of an eye. 

We had about an hour and a half to kill before joining our tour so after lunch in their cafe we viewed some of the interactive exhibitions. The first looked at how particles are accelerated and the second how collisions are observed.

Both exhibitions were very interactive - with plenty of touch screens, hands on games and videos. 

Inside the 'Collide' exhibition

Once the time came for our tour we made our way to the meeting place. Our guide didn't show up - but we got a substitute - a scientist doing current research!

He was very engaging and clearly passionate about the work at CERN. CERN is a huge complex and we were led through security gates into the ATLAS control centre. We learnt all about CERN's history. IT has had several particle accelerators each bigger and faster. The LHC is currently the largest but the older ones (apart from the very first) are still operational. 

It was a baking hot day and we were all wilting in the heat whilst we stood outside. Mrs B decided a patch of shade was needed and said to the guide she was going to stand in it. Everyone quickly followed - including the guide. Some are born to lead...

Once inside the ATLAS control centre a switch was pressed and through the glass we could see real time scientific research taking place. A large room full of computer screens and displays, like a NASA control centre, was revealed with a handful of people working as we watched.

The ATLAS control centre

We then made our way across a busy road to another part of the site, again passing through security gates, to see the  synchrocyclotron. This sounds like a device from a 1950s science fiction film, but was in fact CERN's first particle accelerator. It's now retired and on display. We watched a film and our guide talked us through the development of particle accelerators, the LHC is the fourth. There are plans to build an even bigger one.

The synchrocyclotron

With this our visit concluded. It had been a fascinating experience, unlike anything else done on this trip. A short drive took us just over the border into France where we checked into an apartment in a hotel, that had views to the Jura mountains. We had a long drive the next day and would get to see the Jura on route.