Submitted by coluanai on

 

Winning teams for 2015 arrive at CERN

The two teams of high-school students that won this year's beamline for schools contest arrived at CERN today, ready to set up their experiments on the T9 beamline.

The “Leo4G” team from Liceo Scientifico Leonardo da Vinci School in Florence, Italy, and the “Accelerating Africa” team from St John's College and Barnato Park High School in Johannesburg, South Africa, were selected from 119 teams from around the world, adding up to about 1050 high-school students.

“Leo4G” is a team of 19 students from Liceo Scientifico Leonardo da Vinci school, 10 of which have travelled to CERN. Their project involves using and calibrating a particle detector built from common and low-cost materials, namely a customised web-cam. To prepare their proposal, they got in touch with their local physics-research centre and visited a linear particle accelerator in the INFN section of the University of Florence.

“Accelerating Africa” is a collaboration of students from St John's College and Barnato Park High School and comprises 10 students. Their project is inspired by 2015 being named the International Year of Light by the United Nations, and involves producing high-energy gamma rays using a crystalline undulator.

The teams will spend 10 days at CERN, setting up their experiments, taking data, and analysing their results with the help of CERN staff and volunteers. 

Follow the teams' progress on their blogs: