UCD was one of two venues in Ireland for a recent virtual visit to CERN, the European Centre for Particle Physics in Geneva via a video conference. Some 200 physics students from schools around Ireland enjoyed the virtual tour of the largest atom-smashers in the world and scientific detectors ten floors high.

They were able to interrogate the leading scientists in the field for two hours with their own questions about Physics and the universe.

The latest video conferencing technology using high speed internet lines made possible this meeting between Irish pupils and top international scientists. The event was organised by Professor Steve Myers, head of the particle beams division at CERN and Dr Ronan McNulty, a lecturer and experimental particle physicist at UCD. The conference is a pilot project undertaken with the aim of deploying this technology across many more schools throughout Ireland. It will be used for remote teaching, specialist lectures, multipoint debates and virtual conferences. In principle, it could allow the participation of every class in the country in special events. The date of the conference, October 6, marked the centenary of the birth of Ireland’s only Nobel physics laureate, Professor Ernest Walton.