Professor Lepage and Professor Horgan

Visit by Professor Horgan, Cambridge University & Professor Lepage, Cornell University. Two Professors speak to the Maths & Physics Society.

The TBSHS Maths and Physics Society were delighted to welcome Professor Ron Horgan and Professor Peter Lepage from Cambridge and Cornell Universities who came to give a talk and presentation on Friday 21^st March. The pair, both distinguished physicists, spoke to Sixth Form and Year 11 students about the Standard Model of particle physics.

Professor Horgan is a member of the Theoretical High Energy Particle Physics Group research group at Cambridge and researches in the areas of quantum and lattice field theory, statistical mechanics and transport processes whilst Professor Lepage is a members of Cornell’s Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics group, researching in the fields of quantum field theory, Standard Model physics, QED and computational physics.

Their talk gave a fascinating insight into studying physics at university and provided an experience that went well beyond the scope of the AS or A2 syllabuses but was still relevant and accessible.  They explained why mass is needed in order to mediate the distances physical forces can operate over and about the Higgs Boson and its mechanism; covering themes from the history of QED & QCD to the famous scientists of the field and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The talk also touched on many aspects that had been discussed in student presentations in previous weeks such as Feynman Diagrams, the Standard Model of particles and radioactive decay by the weak nuclear force.

Afterwards there was time for a few questions and thankyou gifts to be presented as a token of our appreciation. We would all like to thank Ron and Peter for taking the time and trouble to visit us; their talk was enjoyed by all and we would love to welcome them back again in the near future.

Charlie Jonas, Year 12