Public lecture on CERN

Maltese scientist and engineer Nicholas Sammut will deliver a two-hour public lecture on Wednesday at noon in the Engineering Lecture Theatre (ELT) on the cutting edge research being performed at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland.

CERN is the birthplace of the World Wide Web. Other important technologies that emerged from the research performed at CERN include medical imaging like Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan) and developments in hadrontherapy, which have revolutionised medical diagnosis and treatment worldwide.

CERN is one of the most sophisticated and advanced examples of international collaboration performing non-military research that is fundamental to enable scientists to understand the laws of nature, particularly what matter is made of and the forces that act on it. These investigations have profound implications on the development of the sciences, ranging from nanotechnology to cosmology.

To better understand the properties of fundamental particles, CERN uses particle accelerators and detectors. The largest accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), measures 27 kilometres in circumference and is the largest and most powerful scientific instrument ever constructed by mankind at a cost of €6.5 billion. It is situated in a tunnel 100 metres underground beneath four towns on the Franco-Swiss border.

The talk is organised by the International Electrical and Electronics Engineers Malta Student Branch (IEEE SB).