After planning to restart the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva on 23 March 2015 it has now been delayed for several weeks. A short circuit in one of the powerful magnets that power the particle beams is responsible. Because the magnets are chilled to close to absolute zero it will need to be warmed up, repaired and cooled down again. A similar uncooled magnet could have been repaired in hours, however as CERN Director General Rolf Heuer said “In the grand scheme of things, a few weeks delay in humankind’s quest to understand our universe is little more than the blink of an eye.”
More on this:
LHC restart update (CERN press office – in English)
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