Guest Speaker on Subatomic Physics
Alex Levitskiy
On May 12, 2015, the physics students at Homer High School were fortunate enough to listen to a guest speaker on subatomic physics. The guest speaker was Dr. Anders Ryd, a physicist originally from Sweden, who works at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) particle detector on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC is the largest particle accelerator in the world, and it sits on the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. Although the research being done by CERN varies in scope and application, in essence, their current research is being utilized to better comprehend our universe and its conception.
Dr. Anders Ryd began the discussion on a personal level, and I found it interesting that he did not foresee himself becoming a physicist, as some kids have their mind set on a certain career at an early age. He told us of his schooling, and underlying this was the message of not closing doors to opportunities which may ultimately steer us in our destined direction. Before delving into the research being done at CMS, Anders described the theory of the formation of our universe and the subatomic particles that existed. These subatomic particles, such as quarks of various types, are a part of quantum physics, which is what we are currently learning in physics class. Anders then taught us about the Higgs boson, which was discovered in 2012 at the LHC. The research being done is truly intriguing and groundbreaking; future research will potentially be done on dark matter and dark energy, which are major portions of our universe that are not well understood. The physics classes greatly enjoyed the presentation, and we are all thankful that Dr. Anders Ryd was able to dedicate his precious time at Homer High School.
