A girl in a physics world. : Harwell Open Day 2015

Although I have visited Rutherford Appleton Laboratory before, the Harwell Open Day was one of the best ways to see it again and so much more! There was so much science in one place - it was unbelievable how many people came and the sheer amount of science that was on show!

The Open Day was very generous as it allowed the public to see the Central Laser Facility, ISIS and the Diamond Light Source, all in one day! Such an amazing experience to see all these great labs in one go.

There is some amazing science going on in these main labs based at the Harwell Campus:

Central Laser Facility

This is the home to one of the world's leading laser facilities where they carry out a range of experiments. These can be accelerator experiments or studying biophysical processes or even accelerating subatomic particles to high energies in order to find out more about our origins.

ISIS

Here you can find the suite of neutron and muon instruments where scientists are discovering the properties of different materials on the atomic scale!

Diamond Light Source

This is a very large synchrotron (type of particle accelerator) where industrial researchers in the fields of structural biology, energy, engineering, environmental sciences and nano-science all use the Diamond Light Source facility for a range of different experiments.

It would be an absolute dream to work with the Central Laser Facility - hearing about all the cool things the scientists do there at the Open Day has left me inspired to follow in their footsteps! Why not consider a career in Physics, it can lead you to pretty much any profession - check this out!

Here are some highlights of the incredible day at the Harwell Open Day 2015:

Particle Physics at RAL

Plasma ball!

ISIS

So many visitors!

Telescope!

Just spotted the Uncertainty Principle!

Science-y artwork!

Ice-cream!

Gemini laser!

Largest diffraction grating I've ever seen!

Parabolic mirror!

Loving the small models of the accelerators!

ISIS

We arrived after a long journey from London to Oxford.

Diamond Light Source

I met the amazing Nicola Booth who works at the Central Laser Facility at Harwell and she knew Dr. Mangles from Imperial College (my summer placement supervisor from last year!)