9 January 2014
A former CERN particle physicist is serving in Afghanistan as a force protection troop leader in the British Army.
Lieutenant James Jackson at Camp Souter in Kabul [Picture: Sergeant Dan Bardsley, Crown copyright]
Who would have ever guessed that the legacy left behind in Afghanistan by the British Army may well include top-notch science education for the students of Kabul? If it does, it might be down to Lieutenant James Jackson of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, who is serving on Herrick 19 as a force protection troop leader, defending the Afghan media operations cell and any journalists that visit the capital.
Lieutenant Jackson is a former particle physicist with CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research; one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research.
CERN operates the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, considered one of the greatest engineering feats of all time, and James Jackson’s name appears on the Nobel prize-winning paper recording the historic discovery of the Higgs boson particle; the so-called ‘maker of mass’.
In 2012, the scientist swapped careers, inspired by his uncle and one-time commander of 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets, Brigadier Jolyon Jackson. While in Kabul, Lieutenant Jackson has been finding out more about the science courses available to Afghan students, with a view to passing on some of his knowledge to colleges there.
He said:
Their rough syllabus looks decent for undergraduates. I don’t know to what level the topics are taught, so I’ll be finding out more during my time here....
Read much more here.
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