Fanny Arnold-Malandain (France)
| My name is Fanny and I work as an engineer at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) on the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). |  |
My job is to set up new beamlines for experiments, and to ensure that their quality remains constant from day to day. I also spend part of my time developing software applications to either measure or modify beam properties, like their shape or intensity.
From about the age of 12, I wanted to understand the laws of the universe and nature. For example, how can a small set of particles (standard model) combine to build the huge diversity of what we see in the natural world?
Looking at it in an absolutely pragmatic way, I find it very reassuring that there are laws to explain how nature works, and to see how nature follows them precisely! Today, we can make predictions about what will happen in almost any given situation using simulations. With laws we can explain almost everything, from the construction of a house to how the most powerful up-to-date computers work. All the phenomena in the world can be explained with the laws of nature.
I marvel at nature and I am eager to share my enthusiasm with other people. That's the reason why I'm here!
There are great opportunities out there for you to try and unveil the secrets of matter. I look forward to seeing you on a visit to CERN, where you can meet thousands of people that work every day on trying to understand where we come from and what we are made of.