While I was curating the @RealScientists account and generally being a tourist at work around CERN, I snapped a photo of dishwasher that was being used to clean a readout board I needed for my test beam experiment. I put the photo up on Twitter and it got a little bit of attention. The photo… Continue reading CERN Dishwasher
Academic nomad
Here is a collection of some of my favourite photos taken on my academic nomadic journeys. Most of them were shot with a phone and they may have been Instagram'ed for the filters. You can expect a mixture of scenic and scientific. (Note this album will be updated as I take new photos - come back later… Continue reading Academic nomad
Real Scientists
Last week I was the curator of the Real Scientists Twitter account (@RealScientists). It coincided with a trip to CERN for a test beam experiment so I took full advantage of being on site to show as much of CERN as possible. I ended up having a lot of fun being a tourist in my own… Continue reading Real Scientists
Maths at CERN
A few months ago I took part in a recording of a podcast about some of the different mathematical techniques used at CERN. Specifically, the podcast was looking at A-Level maths used by people in different careers and the aim was to inspire school students to study the subject in the UK. The first example… Continue reading Maths at CERN
Conference Travel
One of the perks of being a particle physicist, is the travel. Actually, I should rephrase that: one of the perks of being a particle physicist with a (limited) travel budget is that you get to travel. But you have to earn it. As I write this I am sat in the departure lounge of Paris'… Continue reading Conference Travel
Women in Science and the Media
Last week I was at a workshop unlike the usual meetings I attend. This one was called "Communication & Impact for Female Early Career Researchers". Firstly I should apologise to one of the course instructors, Claire Ainsworth, as I've already broken one of the first rules we learnt during the course, that is that a story should be… Continue reading Women in Science and the Media
Hunting the Higgs
This week I've been at the Higgs Hunting workshop in Orsay near Paris, France. This also happens to be my home institute, so there was no travel involved. The conference is three days long and brings together theorists and experimentalists from around the world to discuss current Higgs results, and also to explore what we can… Continue reading Hunting the Higgs
Comedy Collider: No Cause for ConCERN
On Friday the 13th of June the Comedy Collider team hosted our second show at CERN's Globe of Science and Innovation. The seats were once-again completely sold-out before the day of the event, and the waiting list was only growing, so we we looked forward to a good crowd. We'd enlisted a entirely brand new set… Continue reading Comedy Collider: No Cause for ConCERN
Zombies at CERN
Not everyone who knows me, knows that I like horror films, but I do! In fact, I'm a particular fan of zombie films. I'm such a fan, I even made a feature length one with fellow zombie-loving physicists a few years ago at CERN! Our film is called Decay, and it's named because decay is a word that is appropriate… Continue reading Zombies at CERN
Graduation Day!
It's been roughly nine months since I successfully defended my PhD thesis, and since then I've moved on to a new job, so I didn't expect graduation day to be a big deal. I would put on the colourful robes, walk onto the stage to shake someone's hand and collect my certificate - job done… Continue reading Graduation Day!