In his talk, Quantum Collisions: A New Force?, Professor Allanach introduced the audience to the world of particle physics and some of the questions researchers are currently trying to answer at CERN.

He explained how experiments at the Large Hadron Collider allow scientists to study what happens when protons collide at extremely high speeds, and how the results can help us test our understanding of the fundamental forces of nature. The lecture also explored recent findings that do not quite fit with predictions made by the Standard Model, raising the possibility that there may still be new physics waiting to be discovered.

Professor Allanach has a remarkable ability to make highly complex ideas feel approachable, and the audience was engaged throughout. One of the highlights of the lecture came when he performed an original song as part of the talk, bringing humour and music into an evening of theoretical physics and capturing everyone’s attention.