Physicist working on Large Hadron Collider wins Eisteddfod 2024 Science and Technology Medal

A physicist has been awarded this year’s Eisteddfod 2024 Science and Technology Medal for his work on the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Geneva.

Dr Rhodri Jones will be honoured at a special ceremony in the Pavilion of the Eisteddfod in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd next month.

Dr Jones is the Head of CERN’s Beams Department, and he and his colleagues ensure that the particle beams flying around the £3.7bn underground machine hit each other correctly.

High standards

He said, “It’s been described as trying to throw two knitting needles together from each side of the Atlantic and making sure the points meet, so it’s quite difficult.

“But by working as a team we’ve shown that it can be done and we’ve maintained our high standards to ensure that these particles collide exactly where and when we want them to.

“Hopefully this will eventually help to us explain things like dark matter, the stuff that seems to make up most of the universe but which for some reason we can’t see.”

The medal, presented for the first time in 2004, aims to recognise, celebrate and honour the winner’s special contribution to science and technology through the medium of Welsh.

Dr Jones was born in Carmarthenshire but spent his early childhood in the Netherlands before the family moved to Cambridge. He returned to Wales in 1989 to study Physics at Swansea University. He continued his studies at Swansea and gained a PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics.

He joined CERN in 1996, to contribute to the design and construction of diagnostic systems for the Large Hadron Collider.

He has worked in several roles at CERN, including researching innovative techniques for characterising particle beams.

Measurement system

He was responsible for the implementation and activation of the vital measurement system for the effective control of the accelerated particles. He also fostered collaboration in acceleration technology among European institutions and universities.

He took up the position of Head of the CERN Beams Department in 2021.

While studying in Swansea, Dr. Jones met his wife, Sharon, who is from Blaenau Ffestiniog. They live in France with their four daughters, all brought up through the medium of Welsh. The eldest, Fflur, who now lives in London, will compete with a choir in the Eisteddfod, with her parents  watching in the audience.

As well as following the choir in the Pavilion, and receiving this year’s Medal, Dr Jones will give a lecture on the discovery of the Higgs Boson and the future of the Large Hadron Collider, in Y Sfferen, in the Science and Technology Village at 14:00 on Thursday afternoon 8 August.

The Science and Technology Medal will be presented to Rhodri Jones at 12:30 on Thursday afternoon, 8 August. The Science and Technology prizes will be presented in the Science and Technology Village at 10:30 on Thursday, and the event is sponsored by Addysgwyr Cymru | Educators Wales.

 The Rhondda Cynon Taf National Eisteddfod will be held in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd from 3-10 August. For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.eisteddfod.cymru.