Ewen Maclean (Physics, 2006)

Attracted to Hertford by chance, Ewen Maclean studied Physics as both an undergraduate and a DPhil student. Having studied in Switzerland as part of his research, he is now based there permanently at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Oxford didn’t give me a great vibe at first. Coming from a rural state school in Scotland applying to uni down South wasn’t a particularly natural choice, but my Dad and I had driven down for the Science Open Day and I’d devoted the morning to checking out some colleges I’d picked from the prospectus. Perhaps it was a consequence of the early time of day, but I seemed to have been met by a series of high-walled, gated communities with signs out front declaring they were closed to visitors.

Hertford had made it onto my shortlist of colleges by virtue of having one of the largest number of physics tutors listed in the prospectus. However, it also rapidly set about demolishing those first impressions of Oxford. As I approached down Catte Street it became apparent some sort of revelry was going on. A banner eventually appeared proclaiming it was also the Herford College Open Day. Inside I was met by a cheerful student, to whom I hesitantly explained that I’d actually come for the science open day, but if it was alright I’d still like to have a quick look around the quad. `Nonsense!’ was the response: I had to join in some of the Hertford activities too! Sure enough I soon found myself ushered onto a guided tour of the College buildings, and on my return was introduced to Dr George Ducas, one of the physics tutors at Hertford, who was about to lead a tour around the university department.

I think I learned far more about Oxford Physics from the Hertford tour than from the University events that day, and like the students on the door George was really friendly. More than that though, I would say his enthusiasm for the subject, university, and encouragement of the students being shown around really helped me get excited about the idea of applying to Oxford for the first time. I did wander around a few more colleges after I finally extracted myself from Hertford, but none struck me as having that same atmosphere. Originally my Dad and I had planned to drive over to Cambridge the next day, but leaving Oxford it started to rain torrentially and we got lost, so I decided not to bother. I was hooked, and would be applying to Hertford.

It was actually Dr Ducas who introduced me to the field I work in now. I spent my penultimate summer vacation undertaking a research project in particle accelerator physics, supervised by George. I would carry it on for my MPhys studies, but it was that summer that inspired me to look for a Ph.D in accelerator physics. For my DPhil I was lucky to get the opportunity to study beam-dynamics in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the highest energy accelerator in the world, operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva. Of course I elected to remain a Hertford student (my new supervisor had initially wanted me to move to his college of St. Catz). In practice, though, I was rapidly shipped out to Switzerland. In 2008 a sudden expansion of some helium had damaged the LHC and it had recently started up again (if it sounds trivial it isn’t, but then again the LHC has also been delayed by baguette wielding birds and weasels with a penchant for chewing on high voltage electrical cables). In the end I spent three years in Geneva completing my DPhil. I even got to be in the main Auditorium at CERN as the Higgs Boson discovery was announced, and though my contact with the college was much less than as an undergraduate, support was always there if needed.

After finishing my DPhil I did a postdoc with the University of Manchester, and then returned to Geneva where I’m now working through a CERN Fellowship and studying nonlinear-dynamics in the LHC. Working here has been an incredible experience, and accelerator physics is a fascinating subject, but it’s not widely taught in the UK. I think I was lucky to discover it, largely thanks to the support of my tutors and college. Looking back it’s funny to think I would be somewhere totally different if a friendly student and tutor hadn’t shown me around a Hertford Open Day.

Advice for the next generation: don’t turn up to your doctoral defence with your college misspelled on the front page of your thesis!