Masterclasses 2008: a conference in Bassano January 29, 2008
Posted by dorigo in personal, physics, science, travel.15 comments
This afternoon I traveled to Bassano del Grappa, a nice little town close to the first slopes of the eastern italian Alps, to give a lecture on particle physics to students of the last year of high school. This is in the context of the Master Classes, a program to publicize particle physics among students.
I had a very nice audience of about 20 students, and I talked for a bit less than two hours on the history of particle physics, the tools, the methods of investigation, and the discovery of quarks. I will have two more hours to describe more in detail a few of the most recent and present experiments in particle physics in two weeks.
You can browse the slides of my first lecture (in italian!) here (.ppt, 4.2Mb). They are not much different from those I showed one year ago, but I did change a few details and gave more emphasis on some aspects of the quark model, especially in my speech. I spent a lot of time on the chalkboard, drawing Feynman diagrams and particle reactions. The students asked meaningful questions and I was pleased with their attention and their level of understanding. All in all, a well-spent afternoon.
