South African high school students win international science contest - CERN
Beamline for Schools Competition 2015
CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research) is famous for the Large Hadron
Collider and finding the Higgs Boson, but there is much more to CERN. This year,
CERN made a beamline (a beam of accelerated particles along a specific path of an
accelerator facility) available for a team of school students to run an experiment of
their own design.
The aim of the Beamline for Schools Competition is to make a fully equipped
beamline available for high-school students to run an experiment in the same
way that researchers do at the Large Hadron Collider and other CERN facilities.
In proposals of fewer than 1000 words, teams had to explain why they wanted to
come to CERN, what they hoped to take away from the experience and give initial
thoughts on how they would use the particle beam for their experiment. They
also had to summarize their written proposal in a creative and entertaining
video.
212 teams from 40 countries registered their intent to enter by 31 January 2015.
image: http://home.web.cern.ch/students-educators/updates/2015/02/beamline-schools-teams-40-countries-running
The competition closed on 31 March with 119 teams having entered, adding up
to about 1050 high-school students from around the world. Teams of CERN
scientists then evaluated proposals based on creativity, motivation, feasibility
and scientific method. After two rounds of evaluation, 13 teams were highly
commended and put forward for final selection by an official CERN committee
that assigns beam time to experiments.
This year boys in grade 11 from St John’s College and Barnato Park High School
collaborated and formed a team called “Accelerating Africa”. The name was
chosen as the team wanted to demonstrate that students from different
backgrounds, working together, with a passion for Science, could be an example
of what Science education in South Africa can achieve. 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 proposed experiment will study the properties of a crystal undulator for the
production of MeV range gamma radiation. See
http://physics.uj.ac.za/wiki/CBL4S/Main/HomePage?action=download&upname=CERN%20proposal%20%20Accelerating%20Africa.pdf
The video for the proposal is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1bRnuciYZU&feature=youtu.be
On 15 June 2015 in Geneva, CERN announced the winners of its 2015 Beamline for
Schools competition. Two teams of high-school students have been selected to
travel to CERN in September to carry out their own experiments using a CERN
accelerator beam. The winners are the “Accelerating Africa” team from St John's
College and Barnato Park High School in Johannesburg, South Africa and the
“Leo4G” team from Liceo Scientifico Leonardo da Vinci School in Florence, Italy.
This means that 10 students from South Africa and 10 students from Italy will be
sponsored by CERN to travel to Switzerland in September to conduct the
experiments that they proposed.
This is an incredible achievement for South Africa, St John’s College, Barnato
Park High School and the students involved.
A few quotes from some of the South African team members capture their
thoughts:
"Science was the catalyst for this endeavour, co-operation inspired the feasibility,
and the two together will lead us along this journey." - Brandon MacKenzie, St
John's College
"When I first heard the good news I was ecstatic, my hands where shaking and my
heart was beating faster than usual. I could not believe that such an amazing
opportunity has been blessed to me. I've always wanted to pursue a career in
Physics or Engineering and winning this amazing competition has brought me
closer to my dreams. I've always wanted to travel abroad as I have never been
overseas nor have I been in an airplane. I'm truly thankful for this opportunity
given to me and I know that I will take it with my two bare hands and not let go of
it. Thank you." - Malaika Elliot Motsoai, Barnato Park High School
"This opportunity that we have been presented with, will not only allow us to enjoy
a once in a lifetime experience, but has also given us the chance to show the world
and our fellow South African students that with hard work and determination
almost anything is possible." - Fayadh Haffejee, St John's College
The joint St John’s College and Barnato Park High team is led by the St John’s
College Head of Department, Science: Dr Colleen Henning. Prof Simon Connell
from the University of Johannesburg has provided support in the proposal
development and the student training. The South African Institute of Physics is
very proud of the South African Schools team. Dr Sahal Yacoob, the International
Particle Physics Outreach Group (IPPOG) representative for SA, will work with
Prof Connell and Dr Henning and the SAIP to ensure the maximum benefit to SA
from this project. Dr Henning may be contacted at henning@stjohnscollege.co.za
for further information.
Colleen Henning
HOD Science
St John’s College
Note:
The 13 teams that were given the status of highly commended are, in
alphabetical order by team name: Accelerating Africa from South Africa, Atid
from Israel, curioCERNty from the United States of America, Flash Team from
Portugal, Leo4G from Italy, Muonsters from Spain, Photon Hunters from Spain,
Prerna from United States of America, R4CERN (R_ookies of R_ats R_ock the
R_ays at CERN) from Germany, Salesianos-Úbeda from Spain, Team Nutella from
Canada, Team Tachyon from Canada and The Princesses of Particles from
Germany.