CERN School Philippines 2014

            It was on July 4, 2012 ^[1] when physicists all over the world celebrated for finding the “god particle.” It was confirmed that the new particle discovered at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is indeed the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is an elementary particle said to be responsible for all the mass in the universe ^[2].  The video below (from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_HrQVhgbeo) gives a brief description of the Higgs mechanism.

             If you are a physics enthusiast or simply someone who does not want to get behind the unraveling of the mysteries of the universe, the fuss about the Higgs boson has probably made you wish to see the Large Hadron Collider, world’s largest, most expensive and most powerful particle collider.  However, if you’re in the Philippines, it’s pretty much expensive to go to Switzerland.  That’s why, we, Filipinos are lucky enough because scientists from CERN, along with other local and international physicists, are coming to the Philippines to conduct the first CERN School Philippines 2014 ^[3]. 

Photo taken from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202630923070835&set=a.1244435147576.39893.1130293008&type=1

So what is this CERN School Philippines all about?

         It mainly caters to physics students, both graduate and undergraduate.  Quoted from CERN’s announcement, “the CERN School Philippines 2014 aims to strengthen the Philippines capability in experimental as well as theoretical high-energy physics by bringing together local, regional and international high-energy physics experts to share their expertise with undergraduate and graduate students in lectures and seminars.” It is a series of lectures from 31 March to 8 April 8 2014 at the National Institute of Physics, UP Diliman, Quezon City.  The lectures include topics in Standard Model Theory, Quantum Field Theory, Astrophysics, and many more theoretical and experimental topics in particle physics.

              Registration fee is Php 300 for students while Php 3,000 for non-students.

Not a physics major? Don’t know anything about theoretical physics?

             No worries! The general public will also be addressed in a session on April 2, 2014 and you don’t need to pay or register.

              We may not be able to see the Large Hadron Collider, but having the opportunity to discuss with scientists working there as well as other local and international physicists is still a great thing! 

References:
[1] The Higgs boson. http://home.web.cern.ch/topics/higgs-boson
[2] What exactly is the Higgs boson? http://science.howstuffworks.com/higgs-boson.htm
[3] The first CERN School Philippines. https://indico.cern.ch/event/304057/