Following the exciting and motivating feedback to my former post, I am very happy to announce that steemSTEM will go to CERN in a month. And in particular, we will go down to the LHC to visit the CMS experiment.
The CMS detector is the one shown in the banner below. This is the apparatus that we will be able to observe very closely!
With this post, I am working out all details about what one should know prior to the visit.
When: February 9th, 2017
I am planning to travel on the 8th in the evening and arrive in Geneva. I will probably find a place to stay in Saint-Genis-Pouilly that is at a walking distance from the CERN main entrance.
As the list of participants must be provided to CMS, the deadline for confirming your participation is next Wednesday (Jan 17th), 23:59 Geneva time.
By confirming, you are required to send me a copy of a valid ID so that I could forward it to CMS. As said in the previous post, this is the only price to pay to go down to the LHC.
The agenda
For those already there on the 8th, we can meet in a nice dinner place or a bar to get some drinks and fun before the real thing. Please let me know if you are interested.
In the morning, we will spend time close to the CERN main entrance. There are two permanent exhibitions, the Microcosm exhibition and the Universe of Particles that are worthy to visit. We will stay there from about 10:00 AM to lunch time.
I still need to clarify whether we can have lunch on site. In the worst case scenario, we will go to a restaurant in Ferney-Voltaire or Cessy, where we will move for the afternoon session.
Cessy is where the CMS experiment is located, is not close to the main entrance of CERN (the LHC is a 27-kilometer-long device), and is also the place where the inventor of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, lived some time ago.During the first part of the afternoon, I will give you a particle physics crash course so that you could understand what you will be supposed to see during he visit to CMS. Material and explanations will already be posted on Steemit on the week prior to the meetup, if I manage :p
We will go down to the LHC and get a private visit of CMS from 17:00 to 18:00. We will get a private guide. The meetup ends right after the visit.
Transportation
The CERN main buildings (in Meyrin in Switzerland) and CMS (in Cessy in France) are not at a walking distance from each other. We therefore need to rent either a couple of cars, or a minibus.
This will be clarified when the full list of participants will be known.
Costs
The visit is free. That’s it.
However, it is up to you to cover your trip to CERN, lodging if relevant, the food you eat, the drinks you drink, the souvenirs you buy, etc. The usual stuff somehow.
The only contribution that may be requested concerns transportation (to be clarified in due time).
Rules / requirements
There are a couple of things to keep in mind when visiting CERN.
All visitors must carry their ID or passport when they are on site. Moreover, CERN is located across France and Switzerland. Please take care of getting a (Shengen) visa for both these countries if necessary. I will not be able to help you if you are getting stuck at a border (we will actually cross borders during the meetup).
Moreover, people younger than 18 years old are not allowed to take part to the visit. There is no maximum age ;)
Cameras are allowed and encouraged. By the way, if one of the participants could bring some sound recording device, that would be great!
Organization in practice
A dedicated room will be created on the steemSTEM discord server. This will allow the participants to discuss in an easier and more practical ways the lodging plans and the transportation issues.
List of confirmed participants (updated on Jan 15th, 21:30 UTC time)
I will update this list in almost real time. The people listed here are those who confirmed their participation. We have so far 17 confirmed participants: @alexs1320, @bendelgreco, @ceybiicien, @dber, @fredrikaa, @grandpere, @howo, @justtryme90 (+1 guest), @kerriknox (+1 guest), @lemouth, @reggaemuffin, @saunter, @scienceangel, @suesa, @tristan-muller
3 other potential participants have shown interests, but not confirmed yet. Please do so before next Wednesday (included). Note that there is a maximum number of available slots.