Formal Education

Tekniskt gymnasium - Trollhättan, Sweden

Growing up in Trollhättan, Sweden, with both my parents engineers, it was not a difficult choice to study science. In secondary school ("gymnasium") I chose the "technical" branch, specialising in Electronics. One of my main interests was Physics, and during the last year I participated in a nationwide competition, scoring well enough to represent Sweden in the "International Physics Olympiad", an international competition in theoretical and applied physics.

The Y-programme - Linköping, Sweden (view diploma as pdf) (view grades as pdf)

Unable to choose between electronics or physics, I decided to postpone the decision and study both, following the "Y-programme" at Linköping University ("Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics"). Ultimately, my main area of interest turned out to be rather more in physics than electronics. I specialised in Theoretical Physics, and took all the available courses in Quantum Mechanics, firmly believing that I would continue with a PhD in that subject. Plans that were shelved indefinitely when I became disenchanted with the academical world after a year at CERN. Apart from the scientific courses, I also seized the opportunity to study some non-scientific subjects, taking courses in German and history as well as law and philosophy. While visiting Geneva in the Spring of 1997, I went on a tour of CERN and decided there and then that I would like to carry out my thesis work at CERN. I applied for an opening in October 1997 which left me with two months after completing my studies in Linköping before I could start - an ideal opportunity to study French.

Military Service, Sweden

Sweden still had compulsory military service, and I did my 10 month stint in 1994-1995, training as a Morse telegraphist. No doubt a skill that I'll never ever have to use. (In fact, two years after I finished the basic training, I received a letter saying that in the re-structured army they have no further need for me. )

CIDEF - Angers, France

I took a two months intensive course at the "Université Catholique de l´ouest" in Angers. This was a very valuable experience. On arrival I didn't speak a word of French, but the teachers were excellent and I lived in a French family, so I simply had to learn! By the end of the two months I was able to communicate almost fluently in French. During my time at CERN I continued to study the language, taking a total 100h of French lessons.

CERN - Genève

I carried out my thesis work at CERN, under their "Technical student" programme. Being able to put my theoretical studies into practice was a very worthwhile experience. I worked in a group evaluating a proposed design scheme for a subdetector in ALICE, one of the detectors of LHC, the next generation accelerator. My work consisted of evaluating the performance of a small detector model that already existed, and proposing improvements for the next generation. I stayed at CERN or a total 14 months.