Freya Blekman (Netherlands)
| Hello everyone, my name is Freya. I grew up in Amsterdam, where I also went to university and got my Ph.D. Currently, I am working as a physicist for Cornell University in the United States, but effectively I am stationed at CERN, in Geneva. |
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Geneva is a nice town, I love skiing and it is very easy to get to the mountains for a nice afternoon or weekend of snowy entertainment. In summer I hang out around lake Geneva, where there is a festival each weekend. Great, I love going to see live music. When I was living in Amsterdam I also was a regular at the Milky Way and Paradiso. I also play hockey in Switzerland, which is quite a change compared to the Netherlands because there is only one ladies league in the country, so you could say I play premier league. But without the actual high level, obviously...
My specialisation is elementary particle physics, which is a field in physics where we use big accelerators to understand very small particles. The work is fun and varied, I travel a lot and I do something different every day, I really enjoy that. It is also a great way to move abroad. I lived in Chicago for two years during my Ph.D., after that I lived in London for a few years and now in Switzerland. But one of the best things about my profession is that we work in international teams and are doing groundbreaking research. This also involves a lot of working together and communication, something most people don't immediately expect that in physics.
Video Profile Freya Blekman
Produced by Marzena Lapka (CMS Times) and Freya Blekman
Schools:
Fons Vitae Lyceum Amsterdam
Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam