Liverpool’s Class of 1966 visits Daresbury
Hosted by Prof Carsten P Welsch (University of Liverpool) and Peter McIntosh from (STFC/ASTeC), the University of Liverpool’s physics class of 1966 (!) were given a special VIP tour of Daresbury Laboratory on Thursday, 30 March 2023.
Participants first learned about the Liverpool physics department from Prof Welsch before Dr Alex Bainbridge (STFC/ASTeC) spoke about the history of Daresbury accelerators. The the visiting group contributed many anecdotes to this, and even helped identify former colleagues on historic photographs.
Drs Narender Kumar, Joe Wolfenden and other members of the QUASAR Group then took the visitors to the Cockcroft Institute’s DITAlab where they got an insight into current gas jet-based R&D. This was followed by a visit of Surflab where Daresbury plays a key role in testing superconducting cavities for the international European Spallation Source in Sweden and the PIP-II project at Fermilab. Dr Deepa Angal-Kalinin (STFC/ASTeC) introduced the CLARA – phase-II accelerator and the new FEBE station, before Dr Andrew Vick (STFC/ASTeC) explained current research into photocathodes undertaken in the VISTA lab.
Liverpool’s physics class of 1966.
The visit was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on decades of scientific and technological progress, and to hear what had become of Liverpool’s former graduates. All still very much interested in cutting-edge physics and the research. Many thanks to everyone who made this visit so nice and special!