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April Cridland

    • About Me:

      I am an antimatter physicist, based at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. I am a practical person who likes to design and build things. Outside of work, I enjoy playing football, solving problems with coding or electronics and playing console games.

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      I live just over the border from Switzerland, in France.  I like to travel and explore new places.  I wish that I was better at languages.  When I’m not working I like to play console games like Fallout, The Witcher and Halo.  I also like to make things, whether that is a cake, a cross-stitch or a new arduino controlled circuit.  In general, I like to solve problems and figure out puzzles.  I’m the person to take with you into an escape room, I’ll get you out on time.

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      I work in the Antimatter Factory, yes that’s really the name above the door.

      We try to understand why everything around you is made of matter.  At the Big Bang an equal amount of matter and matter’s mysterious twin, antimatter, were made.  But today, we do not see a lot antimatter in the universe.  So, we want to know what is different about antimatter.  Why did matter become dominant?

      To do this we use a very cold trap to make and hold antimatter.  Once we have it trapped we fire lasers at it and see if it responds in the same way as normal matter.

      This experiment is quite large and requires a team of people to run it so I work with people from all over the world as part of the ALPHA Collaboration.

      We’ve also just built a brand new experiment called ALPHA-g where we take antimatter and drop it to see if it falls in the same way as matter.  If you want to know more about ALPHA-g, take a look at the video in the link below.

      What is ALPHA-g trying to do?

    • My Typical Day:

      I cycle to CERN and start the day by checking my emails. In the morning I work on designing new electronics or experiment parts in a CAD program. In the afternoon I might be building parts of the experiment or trying out new ideas. I try to exercise in the evenings or socialise with my colleagues.

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      (When not in lockdown) I cycle from my apartment in France to my office at CERN where I say ‘Bonjour’ to my colleagues. I usually check my emails and then make a plan for the day. From here on out, every day is different. I might be designing new electronic circuits, creating technical drawings or writing code to draw graphs of my latest data.

      At noon, I have lunch with all of the people on site that work in the same collaboration (group), between 20 – 30 people. If the weather is good, we sit on the balcony of the restaurant and enjoy the view of the Swiss Alps. In the afternoon, I try to do easier tasks like ordering new equipment or building parts of the experiment. At 4pm I have a coffee with my colleagues and we discuss any problems that we are having or, equally likely, the latest Netflix show we are watching. Then it is back to work until about 6pm, when I cycle home. Once I get back to my apartment, it is time to catch up with what my husband has been working on. Before we squeeze in a quick workout together and share the cooking duties. The day usually ends with watching a movie or playing an Xbox game.

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      Use it to support a STEM competition that myself and a colleague would like to run in Wales.

    CV

    • Education:

      I attended Boston High School in Lincolnshire, where I stayed to complete my A-levels. I was originally going to study Ancient History at Liverpool University but I missed one of the grades that I needed. I decided to re-apply the following year. However, within a few months, I was bored and started taking courses with the Open University whilst working full time. Before I knew it, I was studying for an undergraduate degree in Physics. After I finished my degree, I completed an on-the-job teaching course.

      After while, I decided that it was time to continue my education and study for a Masters degree. During my undergraduate degree, I completed practical experimental courses at Durham and Sussex University. This made Sussex University the easy choice for undertaking a Masters degree with an emphasis on Quantum Optics. If you are looking for a university with a beach, a city and a national park nearby, then Sussex is for you. During my Masters degree I found a course that I really enjoyed about trapping atoms. The lecturer was offering a PhD position and following a conversation that turned into an interview, I was offered the position. It took four years to finish my PhD at Sussex and I learnt a lot about cryogenic engineering, quick prototyping and manufacturing things yourself.

      If you are interested in certain topics, talk to the lecturers, you never know where it might lead.

    • Qualifications:

      15 GCSEs – 8 As, 4 Bs and 1 C.

      5 AS-Levels – English Literature, Religious Studies, Physics, Latin and General Studies.

      3 A-Levels – Religious Studies, Physics and Latin (a real mixed bag – I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study at university).

      BSc (Hons) Physical Sciences,

      PGCE Secondary Education,

      MSc Physics,

      PhD Physics – Development of a planar Penning trap for quantum applications with electrons

    • Work History:

      Waitress,
      Washer Upper in a Pub,
      Pharmacy Dispenser,
      Teaching Assistant,
      Physics & Maths Teacher,
      PhD researcher,
      Research Officer (PostDoc)

    • Current Job:

      I am currently employed by Swansea University as a Research Officer but I am based at CERN in Geneva. I am part of the ALPHA Collaboration which makes, traps and tries to understand antihydrogen. Antihydrogen is the antimatter counterpart of hydrogen. We want to know if there are any differences between hydrogen and antihydrogen.

      The collaboration is made up of 40-50 people from all over the world, including the UK, Canada, USA, Brazil, Israel and Denmark.

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        practical, active, curious

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        An archaeologist

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        I was the Head Prefect but I did challenge the senior teachers on issues that affected students.

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        I like alternative and rock music with a good drum line. According to Spotify, currently my most played bands are Welshly Arms, The Score and Bryce Fox

        What's your favourite food?

        I like food with a kick, Indian or Thai curries are currently my favourite.

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        1. I'd wish for a matrix type learning machine, so that I could download new information into my brain. 2. A teleporter, so I could travel all over the world and be home in time for tea. 3. The ability to speak any language, then I could talk to everyone on my travels.

        Tell us a joke.

        Atom 1: "I think I've lost an electron." Atom 2: "Are you sure?" Atom 1: "I'm positive."

Questions answered by April

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