Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)

We are organising a visit to the next public access day at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), south of Oxford,  which will be held on Thursday 21 August.  This is a fantastic chance to see behind the scenes at our world-leading laboratory and to talk to the scientists and engineers who work here about the research we’re doing.  There’ll be tours, talks and demonstrations, and plenty of activities for children.  There will be a morning and an afternoon session, with registration starting at 09:00 and 13:30.  The sessions will finish by 12:30 and 17:00 respectively.

 As a working laboratory, we cannot guarantee which facilities will be visited at this stage, but possible areas include:

• ·         Particle Physics Department (PPD): PPD work on the experiments and data of the Large Hadron Collider as well as other particle physics experiments such as T2K.  They also run the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE).
• ·         ISIS: one of particle accelerators, which uses neutrons and muons to understand the structure of matter, studying everything from drugs to treat cancer, to anglo-saxon swords to aircraft wings.
• ·         Central Laser Facility (CLF): CLF consists of five laser systems, ranging from optical tweezers and lasers used for biological research, to very intense lasers which investigate the most extreme physical conditions.
• ·         RAL Space:  RAL Space have been involved in over 200 space missions – from designing and building satellites to space testing facilities and work on robotics.
• ·         Scientific Computing (SCD):  We are celebrating 50 years of computing at RAL this year and this access day will be a chance to look back over the history of computer as well as see our state of the art computing facilities.  SCD is home to Tier One, which is the UK’s data centre for the Large Hadron Collider and JASMIN/CEMS, which processes data from weather satellites. 
• ·         Technology: Our world-class engineering department works with all of our experiments and makes possible a whole range of exciting projects – from particle physics to astronomy. 

There will also be a ‘science fair’, with plenty of activities and demonstrations suitable for all ages, including our infra-red camera, cosmic ray detector, moonrocks and meteorites, deep field activities and lots more, so please do bring the whole family along.  The majority of tours are not suited for children under seven years of age, so families with young children may  choose to stay in the science fair areas.

BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL.  To book, please contact Herbert.   Please let him know:

• ·         Ages of all visitors who are under 16 years of age (some facilities have age restrictions in place, and we will include activities and demonstrations for children, as well as age-appropriate tours)
• ·         Which facilities you would like to see.  Please note that it may not be possible to fulfil all requests.  If you have a specific reason for wanting to visit a particular facility (e.g. a school project), please let us know.  Additionally, if there are facilities you have already visited please let us know and we will try to avoid repeat visits.
• ·         If you have any special requirements (for access etc) please let us know.  Please note that RAL is a very large site, and a visit necessarily involves some amount of walking.  Some areas of site have strong magnetic fields or are in radiation controlled areas.  If you wish to avoid these places (for instance, if you have a pace-maker, metallic implants, are pregnant or breast-feeding) please let us know.

 There is a restaurant on site which you are welcome to use – however, if you intend to do so please let us know in advance so we can inform our catering team to expect extra customers.

 Places do fill up extremely quickly, so please book early to avoid disappointment.  If you have any questions please let us know.