GENEVA -- Physicists around the world, some in pajamas and others with champagne, celebrated the first tests Wednesday of a huge particle-smashing machine they hope will simulate the Big Bang, which scientists believe created the universe.Experiments using the underground Large Hadron Collider, the biggest and most complex machine ever made, could revamp modern physics and unlock secrets about the universe and its origins.
Staff in the control room on the border of Switzerland and France clapped as two beams of particles were sent silently first one way and then the other around the collider's 17-mile-long chamber.
"Things can go wrong at any time," said project leader Lyn Evans, who wore jeans and running shoes for the collider's debut. "But this morning we had a great start."
It will be weeks or months before two particles ever crash together in the giant tube, and even longer before scientists can interpret results, said Jos Engelen, chief scientific officer of the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
"Anything between a year and four years, depending on how difficult this new physics is to find," Engelen said.
Pajama-clad scientists calling themselves "Nerds in Nightshirts" partied at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., as they waited late into the night for the first signals from the $9-billion machine.
No comments:
Post a Comment