I have a friend whose daughter is interested in maths, science and football.  She is in Year 11 (GCSEs this summer).  I'm her godfather, and her mum and dad say my "job" is to nurture her interest in stem.


in 2017 I gave her a scientific calculator - specifically a Casio one, model fx-991ES.  It has a built in list of physical constants and when I visit, we'll pick one and find out more about it.  How big or small is the number?  What are the units? Some are quite advanced (eg Stefan Boltzmann constant), but many are well within the understanding of a 15 year old  eg speed of light ...  (why is it specified in a vacuum?). Or how about Avagadro's  constant?  (How many Olympic swimming pools do you need for a mole of Smarties?)


I also treated her to a trip to the Large Hadron Collider (CERN) in Geneva.  I take on board your limited budget - but the only real cost is the air fare (should be less than £100 for both of you).  There is no entrance charge to CERN, nor any charge for the tours.  We did the trip in a single (long!) day.  First you need to get familiar with their rather convoluted booking system.  The tours are hugely over-subscribed and you need to sign up on their web site then have some idea of when you want to go.  I can't remember how many weeks before your preferred date you need to apply... they only have 12 spaces per tour, and 2 tours per day, and when your chosen date becomes available for booking you need to be on line, logged in to CERN and ready to snap up two places at 7:30a.m.(C.E.T.) when the booking service opens.  By 7:45 they'll all be gone!  Don't book your flights until you've secured a place on the CERN trip - you most likely will have to make a few attempts at booking to secure places on the tour.  You'll both need passports.  We brought no Swiss francs, and only about 20 Euros from previous trips abroad.  The shops and cafes in downtown Geneva take Euros, but, as you'd expect, don't give a great exchange rate.  I just took the hit on my credit card for bits and bobs


I stayed with her family on the night before... had a big dinner so we wouldn't need to buy much food in Geneva (very expensive!)... had an early night and were on the road at 3a.m. to get to Luton airport for the first flight to Geneva.  The CERN building is a few tram stops from the airport.  The exhibition of the development and working of the LHC is amazing, and the tour is the best ever.  As part of their job description, staff have to undertake to lead visitor tours.


Expect to spend about 4 hours at CERN, then get a tram down to the 'water jet' on the Geneva waterfront.  Go out on the boardwalk as close as you dare (depends on wind direction!). And, unusually for Geneva - it's free! On a clear day you can see Mont Blanc! We had a couple of hours to window shop around the very posh jewellery and clothes shops.


Back to the airport for the last flight home.  Out flight was delayed for an hour due to spectacular thunderstorm.  I explained to one of the flight attendants that my goddaughter was interested in science and technology and they gave her a tour of the flight deck - and the captain was a woman.


We were back on UK soil by midnight.


A grand day out.

I have a friend whose daughter is interested in maths, science and football.  She is in Year 11 (GCSEs this summer).  I'm her godfather, and her mum and dad say my "job" is to nurture her interest in stem.


in 2017 I gave her a scientific calculator - specifically a Casio one, model fx-991ES.  It has a built in list of physical constants and when I visit, we'll pick one and find out more about it.  How big or small is the number?  What are the units? Some are quite advanced (eg Stefan Boltzmann constant), but many are well within the understanding of a 15 year old  eg speed of light ...  (why is it specified in a vacuum?). Or how about Avagadro's  constant?  (How many Olympic swimming pools do you need for a mole of Smarties?)


I also treated her to a trip to the Large Hadron Collider (CERN) in Geneva.  I take on board your limited budget - but the only real cost is the air fare (should be less than £100 for both of you).  There is no entrance charge to CERN, nor any charge for the tours.  We did the trip in a single (long!) day.  First you need to get familiar with their rather convoluted booking system.  The tours are hugely over-subscribed and you need to sign up on their web site then have some idea of when you want to go.  I can't remember how many weeks before your preferred date you need to apply... they only have 12 spaces per tour, and 2 tours per day, and when your chosen date becomes available for booking you need to be on line, logged in to CERN and ready to snap up two places at 7:30a.m.(C.E.T.) when the booking service opens.  By 7:45 they'll all be gone!  Don't book your flights until you've secured a place on the CERN trip - you most likely will have to make a few attempts at booking to secure places on the tour.  You'll both need passports.  We brought no Swiss francs, and only about 20 Euros from previous trips abroad.  The shops and cafes in downtown Geneva take Euros, but, as you'd expect, don't give a great exchange rate.  I just took the hit on my credit card for bits and bobs


I stayed with her family on the night before... had a big dinner so we wouldn't need to buy much food in Geneva (very expensive!)... had an early night and were on the road at 3a.m. to get to Luton airport for the first flight to Geneva.  The CERN building is a few tram stops from the airport.  The exhibition of the development and working of the LHC is amazing, and the tour is the best ever.  As part of their job description, staff have to undertake to lead visitor tours.


Expect to spend about 4 hours at CERN, then get a tram down to the 'water jet' on the Geneva waterfront.  Go out on the boardwalk as close as you dare (depends on wind direction!). And, unusually for Geneva - it's free! On a clear day you can see Mont Blanc! We had a couple of hours to window shop around the very posh jewellery and clothes shops.


Back to the airport for the last flight home.  Out flight was delayed for an hour due to spectacular thunderstorm.  I explained to one of the flight attendants that my goddaughter was interested in science and technology and they gave her a tour of the flight deck - and the captain was a woman.


We were back on UK soil by midnight.


A grand day out.