Anna Cimmino (Italy)
| Hello - I'm Anna and I'm doing my PhD in physics at the CERN in Geneva. |  |
My parents are both scientists. This probably influenced my choice of subjects at school and choice of career. I've been interested in science, particular physics from the very start. I attended a scientific high-school in Italy with a special mathematics and physics programme. After school, I went on to study physics at the "Università degli Studi di Napoli - Federico II" in Naples, Italy.
There are many different and stimulating areas in physics. When I studied at university, I was not yet aware of all the possibilities. However that all changed when I attended the CERN Summer School Programme in 2004. CERN is the world's biggest particle physics laboratory. For three months, I benefited not only from the incredibly well-furnished labs, but also from the experience of the scientists working there - they are among the best in their fields. My mind was made up: I wanted to become a particle physicist. I must also add that CERN is situated close by the city of Geneva with its beautiful lake. It is not far from the Mont Blanc and Jura mountains - a wonderful place to be in summer and during the skiing season!
After that summer, I returned to CERN for my master thesis and finally started my PhD in 2008. I now work on the muon spectrometer that is the outermost component of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS). CMS is a general purpose particle detector which is being constructed at CERN. With its help, physicists hope to find answers to some of the most challenging questions in science: What is the origin of matter? What is the nature of the so-called dark energy and matter? What happens to most of the antimatter in the universe? And many, many more ...
I actually monitor the data quality of one of the three parts of the CMS muon spectrometer. This involves a lot of programming. I am also in charge of the high and low voltage power supply systems for the spectrometer. This second task deals mainly with hardware.
Therefore, my days are quite full and some weekends must be sacrificed to work too, but I always find time for my family, friends and for my hobbies.
School:
"Ettore Majorana" high school, Monterusciello, Naples