Top local scientist runs ‘atom smasher’
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Ballymoney particle physicist Dr. Alan Barr currently working on the ‘atom smasher’ at the huge CERN facility near Geneva. SPB38-04
A BALLYMONEY scientist is playing a leading role in the historic 'atom smasher' experiment in CERN, working with the world's leading scientists to try to discover what happened just after the 'Big Bang.'
Last week the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex made headlines around the world when it was switched on for the first time at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) facility near Geneva.
As sub atomic particles were beamed around the 27km circular tunnel buried 100m under the Swiss/French border, top Ballymoney particle physicist Dr Alan Barr was there helping give 'life in the fast lane' a whole new meaning.
Alan has been working with thousands of other scientists on the 'atom smasher', the largest particle physics laboratory in the world, for ten years. Alan helped build the ATLAS detector which is located at a point along the 27km circuit.
At the moment he is working huge hours, 'and loving it' because 'the place is absolutely buzzing' but he emerged from the guts of the underground CERN site specially to speak to The Chronicle. He said. "I work at the University of Oxford and we actually helped build ATLAS. It is an impressive piece of kit. It is a precision detector that measures the track of particles after sub atomic collisions within the LHC. We can use this data to try to work out answers to the big questions, to find out more about 'dark matter' and things like that.".
There are 2500 colleagues also working on ATLAS alone and they have their own community with restaurants, hostels and other facilities.
The ATLAS detector is 15m high, 15 m wide and 40 m long, its "about the size of Westminster Abbey." Commenting on some of the work himself and his colleagues from Oxford have done, Alan says, "The big camera is the precision part is the middle of ATLAS and takes pictures of the tracks of the particles. We built it in Oxford and shipped it out and now we are helping run it here in Geneva. It is the size of a couple of beer barrels stuck together and was assembled by a robot. We want to try to work out how to get as much science from this as we possibly can and data from the experiments is being sent to universities across the world for analysis."
Proud parents
Back at home in Ballymoney parents Dr Robert Barr and mum Katherine are delighted, they said, "We are very proud of him and pleased that the project is working out for the thousands of engineers and physicists who have worked so hard on it for so many years."
Dr Barr said "Alan always had an interest in science. When he was at the Model Primary School he was interested in electricity, wiring up light bulbs and forming circuits. I had to go down to to Walkers to get all the bits for him."
The Universe
Alan has come a long way since playing about with bits of wire as a child to being part of the greatest scientific experiment ever to probe the secrets of the universe.
A fellow of Merton College Oxford, Alan attended Coleraine Academical Institution before going on to Cambridge for his first degree. Asked how he got into physics he said, "I fell in love with it at school. I enjoyed maths and physics, I enjoyed taking things to pieces. I once took a friends Scalextrix apart to see how it worked, which didn't impress him at the time. Now I try to take the smallest particles in the world to pieces, just like when I was a kid." Alan first got involved in CERN as a summer job in 1998. "It was amazing for it to be normal to sit drinking a cup of coffee with some of the greatest scientists in the world." he said.
Reflecting back on the journey he has made, he went on, "I remember sitting in Robert Blair's physics class at Coleraine Inst seeing a picture of the CERN Collider Ring on the class room wall, thinking that that would be an impressive place to work. That picture was in the back of my mind somewhere, it left a lasting impression on me."
The circle was completed in 2006 when Alan welcomed Mr Robert Blair and his Coleraine Inst A and AS -level classes to the CERN facility. Alan was impressed with their interest and enthusiasm. Students from Dalriada also visited CERN a few years ago and as Alan relates, earlier this year four lads who had just finished their A-levels at Dalriada came on an unofficial visit during their inter-rail trip around Europe. He points out that CERN is open for school visits at any time and is keen to spread the word to teachers at other schools who may be interested to know this.
'Fantastic guy'
Mr Robert Blair was Head of Physics at Coleraine Inst when Alan was there and taught him up to A level, he said, "Alan was a fantastic guy, one of the brightest lads I ever taught. He was an excellent student, way ahead of the rest of the class and was probably ahead of me most of the time too, a gifted fellow, never arrogant, a really great lad and we are certainly very proud of him at the school."
“He got (jointly with another girl) the highest mark in physics in Northern Ireland in his A levels but he wasn't just a geek, he played rugby, was involved in the school orchestra and enjoyed everything the school had to offer." Alan also won the Cloth Workers Scholarship at the school.
“In March 2006 I took 20 students from lower and upper sixth out to CERN. Alan was doing research and he met us and we went underground to see the accelerator. The students were very excited to meet him and hopefully he inspired some of them to continue with physics and I think he did."
Mr Ronnie Strong was his headmaster at the Model school. He said "Its going back a right wee while, it's 15 or 20 years ago, but I remember the wee boy out of some 350 or 400 pupils. I remember Alan distinctly, he was a shining light in his class room work as a pupil at the school. He was a very likeable lad who came from a good family background, with his father a local doctor and his mother a teacher and a couple of sisters came through the school as well."
“I haven't been aware of the project. I am delighted to hear about it but I am not surprised to hear it given the calibre of young lad he was. He was very much a 'model' pupil. He performed very admirably in all his school work both scientific and literary."
Time out
When he is not at CERN Alan lives with wife Claire and their pet rabbit in Oxfordshire. Claire is also a physicist working on the project but ATLAS is so big that 'its like working together in the same small town.' he said.
Alan is home regularly and was recently back for his sisters wedding at the Royal Court Hotel, he said, "It was a gloriously beautiful day and I went walking at the White Rocks with my family. If you go to the North Coast on a day like that there is no where just like it in the world."
With the switching on of the LHC behind them, Alan and the other workers at CERN are looking forward to the first high energy collisions which are expected to happen in the next few months. It will be up to a year before the LHC is fully operational. Alan has promised to keep The Chronicle up to date in the coming months about the latest in this exciting new frontier.
