WESTBROOK student Jack Rookes was left feeling 'inspired' after he was given the chance to see where the World Wide Web was invented and where the Higgs Boson particle was discovered.

The 17-year-old along with a group of fellow Priestley College students headed to CERN in Switzerland where they were taken underground to see the detector that gathered some of the data that helped reveal the particle.

Jack, of Garwood Close, said: “When you get to CERN it is just immense. It is so inspiring to see how all those people have come together and what they have achieved.”

Physicists and engineers at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, are probing the fundamental structure of the universe.

They use the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles.

Priestley College’s 16 young scientists were lucky on the day of their visit that the collider wasn’t operating so they were able to get a closer look.

Deb Pressage, Head of Science at Priestley said: “It was exceptional access and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these students."

“It was inspirational to visit a place that has enjoyed a role in such major scientific discoveries that have either changed our lives or our understanding of the world in which we live.”

Jack, who is studying A-Levels in physics, maths and further maths as well as the extended project, also spent a week at Daresbury Laboratory after setting up some work experience during the summer.

He spent time using their 3D printer technology and with nuclear physicists as he broadened his knowledge ahead of a career in science.

“I want to work in science because there are always going to be new things to discover,” he added.