Class of 1966 visits Daresbury
Initiated by our very own Dr Mike Houlden, the physics class of 1966 (!) were given a special VIP tour of Daresbury Laboratory on Thursday, 30 March 2023.
Hosted by our very own Professor Carsten P Welsch and Peter McIntosh from STFC/ASTeC, participants first learned about our physics department from Professor Welsch before Dr Alex Bainbridge 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 introduced the CLARA – phase-II accelerator and the new FEBE station, before Dr Andrew Vick explained current research into photocathodes undertaken in the VISTA lab.
The visit was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on decades of scientific and technological progress, and the hear what had become of our former graduates. All still very much interested in cutting-edge physics and the research coming out of Liverpool. Many thanks to everyone who made this visit so nice and special!
Photograph of the former students on the maths steps in 1965.