Large Hadron Collider Up and Running; Fears of Black Holes Allayed

Top: an aerial view of the Large Hadron Collider (Wired .com)
Bottom: some of the detectors under construction inside the LHC (haisdeaks.com)


At about 3:30 this morning (7:30 GMT), particle physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN, located on the border between France and Switzerland) started up the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is a linear accelerator used to recreate some of the conditions present in the Big Bang. The Large Hadron Collider was built to smash protons together at a significant fraction of the speed of light, with the goal of discovering a "Higgs boson", a theorized particle that could explain why objects have mass. Today's test, which was completed successfully, involved sending streams of photons through the accelerator to test the machinery; experiments to gather data will not begin for a while yet, and no conclusive results are expected for several years.

The LHC has not been without controversy. When it was approved in 1996, according to BBC, it was expected to cost about £1.3 billion GB ($2.2 billion U.S.). It turned out to cost, according to CNN, the equivalent of $9 billion U.S. Critics of the project have derided it as a waste of money that could be used on research with more immediate benefits. Others, concerned with a theory that suggested LHC experiments could create microscopic black holes, went to court to try to stop the LHC from operating, though they did not succeed.

But scientists at CERN have defended the project. Fears of black holes and other dangers are "baloney", according to researcher John Huth, as quoted by CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/10/lhc.collider/index.html?eref=rss_world). There is a page on CERN's website enumerating reasons that it can operate safely (http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/Safety-en.html). To those who feel 9 billion dollars is too much to spend on the LHC, they point out that discovery without a goal in mind often leads to great benefits. "When Columbus sails west, he thought he was going to find something. He didn't find what he thought he was going to find, but he did find something interesting," said Joseph Lykken, who works at the U.S.' Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, as quoted by CNN (see above). Another frequently cited example is the electron - when it was discovered in the late 19th century, it was thought to have no practical application, but electronics are now an indispensible part of our lives. Scientists at CERN hope to make similarly important discoveries with the Large Hadron Collider. To find out more about the LHC and CERN, visit the LHC website at http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/LHC-en.html.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments are welcome!