When Rama, a radiofrequency physicist working at CERN’s Beams Department, presses the rewind button, arrives in a childhood dream. “When I was a kid, I had this great dream of doing physics. I was determined to travel abroad to do it, something that for others was not well seen. I cannot justify now if travelling so far was really necessary, but it gave me the motivation to achieve my goal. And I did it”.

Rama was born and grew up in India, where he misses his family and good food, but not in large quantities. “My memory of India is very little now, just a vague memory, so I cannot say I miss much”. When he was 18, he left the country for his higher education. The destination? USA

He went specifically there to work in the domain of physics and experimental physics. He did his degree at Truman State University in the state of Missouri, where T. S. Eliot, one of the great poets of the 20th century, was born. To complete his doctoral studies, Rama moved to Stony Brook University in New York, where he finished them jointly with Brookhaven National Lab.

His American period embraces the steps he took from adolescence to adulthood, which shaped much of his thinking, behavior and way to approach things. Again, he does not miss anything specific. Perhaps, from time to time, the greasy and delicious food. Perhaps also, their lifestyle, slightly different from the European one.

The reason he does not miss anything concrete is that he enjoyed what he was in the US. And now he enjoys where he is. “I am at CERN because I like to do physics. I am delighted to do research within this large multicultural and interdisciplinary community in which each person plays a very small role, working towards a common goal”, explains Rama.

In 2006, he completed his PhD at CERN. At that time, there was a program called LARP, thanks to which Rama came here. And, a couple of years later, he became a CERNie in the RF Group to develop “crab” cavities, which were a vital part of Rama’s postdoctoral studies, for the HL-LHC project.

Rama is an example of determination. He considers himself lucky because he believes that opportunities have helped him to achieve his goals. “You cannot achieve everything by yourself. Opportunities have to be presented. Then, you have to be close to them to grab them”, ensures Rama.

He remembers when he got his degree. “I was extremely happy. I was happier to get my bachelor’s degree than maybe when I got my PhD, just because it was an achievement from my high school when I left India to go to another country alone. That accomplishment felt good because it was my childhood dream”.

That is why, if he had to dream big, he would love to see how, in the next 10 or 15 years, he can give back to young students who now dream of their futures, what was given to him as a child.

Rama, an example of courage, perseverance and success, will always be present in T. S. Eliot’ verses because “only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go”.

 

We could ask “ondas do mar de Vigo” when was the last time they saw our friend Nuria, a welding engineer currently working at CERN.

Nuria was born in the proletarian city of Vigo, located in the Galician Rias Baixas. She grew up with maritime sounds in the background: first, with the Atlantic Ocean and then, with the Cantabrian Sea. After having studied mechanical engineering at the University of Oviedo, Nuria began working in Gijón, where she also studied welding engineering.

She became a CERNie in January 2011 She worked here for five years as a project engineer following the internal manufacturing of superconducting cavities, controlling the quality of subcontracted parts and qualifying welders. In 2016, she left CERN to move to ITER, in southern France, for a year. Later, she returned to CERN.

Since then Nuria enjoys her multi-layered work. She has a wide overview of the High Luminosity LHC Project, of which she is a part. From the pieces’ fabrication, which is her favourite, to how the welding is going. She can also follow other activities such as testing or radio frequency, besides other more normal project activities, such as planning and budgeting. It is very enriching for her to get to know the different pieces that make up the project: the many Lego blocks that Hilumi is built with.

On her return to CERN, Nuria also came back to the Alps’ foot. In the nature of this area, sometimes French, sometimes Swiss, she meets beauty. It reminds her to love because, as she believes, “we can find beauty when we love something”. That is why some will find it in a sunset, others in a baby’s smile, and others even by the sea.

Although we are living problems, as the Spanish Philosopher María Zambrano said, knowing what will happen every day would be very boring. Nuria likes that unexpected side of life. She is not a big dreamer: it is enough to enjoy the day to day, to do things that fill you up and to try to be as happy as possible in any circumstance. But maybe, if she had to dream big, she would do it with her own house in Spain in front of the beach, to be able to greet the sea in the mornings.

For now, Nuria will continue to see, in addition to the different HL-LHC project’s steps, the seasons of this peculiar area and their colours: from the white of the snow that overhangs Mont Blanc, to the orange and yellow tones of an autumn on the Jura hill.