On 22 April 2022, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator located on the outskirts of Geneva, restarted after a break of more than three years for maintenance and upgrade work. One hope is that the LHC, a machine that smashes protons together, can find evidence of a fifth […]
CERN discovers highly suspicious particle behaviour
On 23 March 2021, Geneva-based CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, announced evidence of strange particle behaviour. The idea that matter is made up of tiny indivisible particles is ancient. The word atom is derived from the ancient Greek word atomos, which means uncuttable. However, as particle physics has progressed, the uncuttable atom has […]
CERN gains new insight into a particle responsible for the burning of the sun
After years of subatomic particle busting and number crunching, researchers at CERN now know the mass of the W boson particle1. The findings are part of the ATLAS experiment, which uses CERN’s large underground particle accelerator, known as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), to smash subatomic particles into each other at extremely high speeds. The […]
CERN experiment proves 1960s particle theory
Geneva. On 14 July 2015 CERN’s Large Hadron Collider discovered a class of particles known as pentaquarks. “The pentaquark is not just any new particle,” said LHCb spokesperson Guy Wilkinson. “It represents a way to aggregate quarks, namely the fundamental constituents of ordinary protons and neutrons, in a pattern that has never been observed before […]
First high powered particle collision photos from CERN
For the first time, on the night of 20 May 2015, protons collided in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN at the record-breaking energy of 13 TeV. These test collisions were part of the systems set up that includes adjusting the collimators that protect the machine and detectors from particles that stray from the […]
CERN takes first step into uncharted territory
Geneva, 5 April 2015. After a minor hiccup around two weeks ago requiring repair of a short circuit in one of the super cooled magnets that power the particle accelerator, proton beams were fired today for the first time in two years in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The LHC is the most […]
CERN blows a fuse
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 […]
CERN: Bigger bangs imminent
“What happens when the mass of the black hole eventually becomes extremely small is not quite clear, but the most reasonable guess is that it would disappear completely in a tremendous final burst of emission, equivalent to the explosion of millions of H-bombs.” – Dr. Stephen Hawking The scientists at CERN Geneva are gearing up […]
Desperately seeking Susy – understanding supersymmetry
The human eye sees very little. Our eyes can see only 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging from high frequency gamma rays to low frequency radio waves. To really understand the natural world and cosmos we need technology that takes us beyond our natural sensory limits. We also need to make clever guesses about how […]
Web inventor Timothy Berners-Lee wins prestigious Swiss Award
The brains behind the creation of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has been awarded prestigious Gottleib Duttweiler award. According to the institute, the award recognises people who have made “outstanding contributions to the well-being of the wider community”. Previous winners include: Václav Havel, president of the former Czechoslovakia; and Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales. […]
