Cern operations group leader Mike Lamont (foreground) and LHC engineer in charge Alick Macpherson in the Cern control centre 19 March
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two 3.5 TeV proton beams successfully circulated in the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at Cern for the first time Friday morning 19 March, shortly after 05:20, a key step in ramping up the LHC for 7 TeV collisions, whose data will be fed to a series of physics research projects around the world.
Cern (European Organization for Nuclear Research) says this is the highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator.
Rhythm of life to change at Cern (photo: Cern team watching low energy first collisions 16 December 2009 at 04:00)
Update 22:50 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The annual shutdown of accelerators at Cern, long a part of the rhythm of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, are coming to an end, with the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) gearing up. The organization will instead continue to operate the LHC for 18-24 months, then close for a longer period, possibly a year, to accommodate the LHC’s needs at a higher energy, Cern said 10 March, confirming information it provided in February, that the LHC would shut down in 2011.
The LHC is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles: the fundamental building blocks of all things.
Control room, LHC startup, Cern, November 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Large Hadron Collider at Geneva’s Cern (European Centre for Nuclear Research) has beat previously recorded energy levels by accelerating beams of particles to 1.18 TeV early 30 November. The previous record was 0.98 TeV.
Scientists at Cern are particularly happy about the results because they come only 10 days after the LHC was started up again after explosions one year ago caused serious and expensive damage.
Updated 24 November 08:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) began to run over the weekend after a year-long delay, but Monday was the real day of excitement at its home at Cern (European Organization for Nuclear Research). The LHC is designed to study the world’s smallest known particles, the building blocks of the universe. Two beams have been circulating in opposite directions since the 20 November startup, alternating, but today they began to circulate at the same time, crossing at two points.
Control room for the LHC at Cern, Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) was put back into action Friday 20 November at 22:00, slightly ahead of schedule, announced Cern. The machine started up, but was quickly shut down after a problem a year ago. “The LHC is a far better understood machine than it was a year ago,” said Cern’s director for accelerators, Steve Myers. “We’ve learned from our experience, and engineered the technology that allows us to move on. That’s how progress is made.” The LHC, the world’s most expensive machine, smashes atoms into each other at very high energies in order to recreate the conditions at the very beginning of the universe.
Background story, 20 November 2009
A view of Atlas. Higgs Boson, extra dimensions, dark matter, look here. Photo by Ellen Wallace
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern (European Centre for Nuclear Research) will be switched on this weekend 21-22 November after its year-long repairs. The LHC, the world’s most expensive machine, smashes atoms into each other at very high energies in order to recreate the conditions at the very beginning of the universe. The LHC will start up very slowly at first, probably at no more than 45o GeV, says James Gillies, head of communications. Energy levels will slowly be increased to about 3.5 TeV by mid-January.
GenevaLunch asked Gillies why the LHC, designed to run at 7 TeV, was going to go at only half-steam. He explained that the LHC’s breakdown in September 2008 required a series of careful checks on the machine before it could ramp up to full power.
Students regularly visit EPFL in Lausanne, but more boys than girls opt to go
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Only 15 percent of women in Switzerland are active in information technology, and only five percent of Swiss engineers are women. This brainpower deficit is addressed in Geneva for the first time by a leading US organization in the field, in a day of workshops in English and French for girls aged 11-15 and their parents. The workshops will be held at the International School of Geneva 14 November.
Expanding your horizons (EYH) chose Geneva, Switzerland to organize its first series of workshops in Europe. It regularly runs about 90 conferences a year in Asia and the USA to introduce girls to the sciences.
Participating girls choose workshops led by women who are recognized in their fields, says Jennifer Kealy, EYH Geneva conference chairwoman. The same subjects in school may be dry, but the workshops try to give young women a taste for the uses to which science and mathematics can be put in an environment that is dynamic and fun.
Sorry, can't talk now. We're all chilling at Cern. © Copyright CERN
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The European Centre for Nuclear Research (Cern) straddles the border between Geneva and the neighbouring France department of Ain. It has just launched a site of aimed at the local communities on both sides of the border.
The site recognizes Cern’s importance to the communities it is a neighbour of, and wishes to provide a useful forum shorn of the many technical details. As such, the site is in French only for now.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The man suspected of aiding terrorism who was arrested by French police 8 October was charged in Paris Monday 12 October and it appears likely he will remain in detention. Internet surveillance of terrorist groups led investigators to e-mail exchanges the 32-year-old man had with terrorist groups. Swiss television TSR quotes a source close to the man’s file who says that he had not moved to the stage of being involved in planning attacks but that he had shown his interest and desire to do so.
Update 12:50 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – EPFL, Lausanne’s Polytechnic institute, said Monday morning 12 October that it has blocked all computer access to an area where a possible terrorist suspect has been working, but it cannot yet confirm that the person under suspicion is indeed the person arrested 8 October in France. If so, he has been giving courses once a week at the university although he has recently been off work on sick leave. Britain’s Telegraph reported late Sunday night 11 October that the unnamed man arrested last Thursday south of Lyons, France on terrorism charges was working on projects at both Cern and EPFL. EPFL has not been given a name by French police. The university and Swiss Federal Police say they are ready to help French police, but no official requests have been made.
Cern LHC tunnel that runs under Geneva and neighbouring France
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Cern (European Centre for Nuclear Research) confirmed over the weekend that a man arrested with his brother in the south of France Thursday 8 October has worked at Cern since 2003 as a contract employee for an outside company, not as a Cern employee. “His work did not bring him into contact with anything that could be used for terrorism,” the organization says in a press release, noting that “Cern is a particle physics research laboratory whose research addresses fundamental questions about the universe. None of our research has potential for military application.”
French authorities say the two men, whose identity has not been released, were taken into custody in Vienne, south of Lyons.
Repairing the LHC, 100 metres underground, © CERN 2008
A view down into the LHC just weeks before it was sealed off, 2008
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Scientists at Cern (European Laboratory for Nuclear Research) in Geneva announced 6 August that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be switched on in mid-November, following the latest successful series of tests.
The LHC was started up in September 2008, and had to be switched off a week later, due to overheating and extensive damage to some of the magnets.
Cern's LHC, kilometres of tunnels under France and Switzerland
The latest tests involved the superconducting connections between the string of magnets, some of which revealed abnormally high resistance. It was this sudden increase in temperature in September that caused the nitrogen to heat and expand, severely damaging more than 50 magnets, each weighing almost 30 tonnes.
Torsten Åkesson, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, et José Manuel Silva Rodriguez
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The European Research Area is significantly closer to becoming a working reality, with Cern (European Organization for Nuclear Research) and the European Commission (EC) signing a memorandum of understanding Friday 17 July. The two have agreed to work more closely together in several areas, a key one being to facilitate implementation of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, which has been defined by Cern.
The EC and Cern say the memorandum will provide a framework to cooperate and share knowledge in several areas: research programming, training and mobility of researchers, science education, open publishing, technology transfer, innovation, building next generation infrastructures (including e-infrastructures) and global scientific cooperation.
Anacamptis pyramidalis, part of Cern's natural grounds
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Cern, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has been given a “Nature & Economie” award by the Swiss organization of that name, for its role in encouraging biological diversity at its Meyrin site.
Some 38 percent of the 80 hectares at the Meyrin site, which is on the French-Swiss border, is given over to green areas. They include natural flowerbeds where rare plant species have developed over a number of years. Between 1,000 and 3,000 plants of 19 species of orchid flower in these areas every year, including several hundred of the bee orchid – the rare and protected species Ophrys Apifera.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa will make an address and accept an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva Friday 5 June to mark its 450 years. The Nobel Peace laureate spoke to Le Temps (Fre) and the Tribune de Genève (Fre) at length on subjects ranging from his home country South Africa and its new president to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the split in the Anglican church today.
Angels & Demons exhibit, Globe, Cern (photo: Cern)
Meyrin, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Antimatter is what matters in the new Tom Hanks film, released 15 May. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) has a starring role, too.
Cern’s new exhibition at its Globe centre opened Sunday 17 May and tries to answer the questions viewers of Angels & Demons may have about the science of particle physics. The movie was produced by Ron Howard and stars Tom Hanks.
The exhibit is small, but concise. The average 15 year-old who spends one hour will get a basic grasp of what antimatter is, where it came from, where it went and why Cern is trying to recreate it.
Control room at Cern, first beam in September 2008
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at Cern could be up and running by August, if all goes according to plan. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) said Thursday 30 April that it has taken an important step in completing repairs to the LHC. The massive structure was damaged 19 September 2008, just days after Cern turned on the switch to the machine that is designed to answer questions about the very first instants after the Big Bang.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Cern, known for its Big Bang work, was treated 12 February to a smaller bang, a visit from actors Tom Hanks and Ayelet Zurera, along with director Ron Howard.
The three put on an exclusive showing of some scenes from Angels & Demons, the movie based on Dan Brown’s book.
The film will be released 15 May 2009.
Photo, above, © 2009 Sony Pictures, taken at Cern: Left to right, Sergio Bertolucci, Tara Shears, Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Rolf Landua and Director Ron Howard 12 February, 2009. Photo by Lionel Flusin.
Photo below, © 2009 Sony Pictures, by Zade Rosenthal: from left – Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Thure Lindhart, unidentified, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Rance Howard and unidentified, in Columbia Pictures’ suspense thriller “Angels & Demons”
Click on images to view larger
”It’s been a privilege working with Cern,” said director Ron Howard. “The scientists here have been incredibly helpful in explaining the science to us, and giving us access to some incredible places. I think what they’re doing here is fantastic.”
Sony contacted Cern in 2007 to see about working together and the laboratory quickly agreed. In a press release issued 12 February Cern noted that the collaboration is a logical one, with research director Sergio Bertolucci saying, “Both fiction and science want to take us from the ordinary to the extraordinary; the difference is that science has to operate entirely within reality.”
Cern on how its work ties in with Dan Brown’s writing
Understanding why nature prefers matter to antimatter is the main thrust of Cern’s antimatter research. When our Universe was born some 13.7 billion years ago in the Big Bang, matter and antimatter would have been created in equal quantities, and as Dan Brown correctly points out, when matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate, leaving only energy behind. One of the great mysteries of the Universe today is how enough matter has survived to provide the building blocks for stars, planets, and even us.
Antimatter has practical uses too. The medical imaging technique of PET scanning uses antimatter to help doctors visualize the functioning of the human body. The scanners used owe much to techniques developed for particle physics research. In the future, antimatter might also be used to treat cancer. Preliminary experiments carried out at Cern have shown that antimatter particle beams could be very effective at destroying cancer cells.
Cern press office James Gillies shows journalists, October 2008, mechanical damage to the LHC
Cern control centre, LHC, shortly after the accident, October 2008
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Cern, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, will restart its Large Hadron Collider (LHC), shut down in October 2008 following an accident. The new schedule was announced 9 February following a workshop of technical experts the first week of February in Chamonix.
click on images to view larger
LHC control room in October 2008, following breakdown
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – In an interview carried by Swiss German site news.ch (Ger) Sunday, Cern’s new boss Rolf-Dieter Heuer said the bill for the breakdown of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) could go as high as CHF40 million. He also said that he expects to see the LHC starting up again in July 2009, about four months later than the date Cern has previously given journalists.
Title: Mini Einstein:physics for tots, Meyrin
Description: Free workshop for 4 to 6 year olds (registration required). CERN is offering a series of workshops designed to teach the ABC of physics to the very young.
Call: +41 (0)22 767 76 76 for further info or email: cern.reception@cern.ch
Start Date: 14 Jan 2009
End Date: 25 Feb 2009
Title: Show: The music of the espheres at Cern
Location: Meyrin, Geneve
Link out: Click here
Description: A show associating each planet in the universe with a different musical note.
Date: 03 Dec 2008
Title: Science fair at CERN
Location: Meyrin, Geneve
Link out: Click here
Description: Conferences, theater and interactive exhibits. Free.
Start Date: 17 Nov 2008
End Date: 20 Nov 2008
Title: Science fair CERN at Chavannes
Location: Chavannes-de-Bogis, Vaud
Description: Discover pictures and interactive exhibits on the LHC.
Start Date: 03 Nov 2008
End Date: 15 Nov 2008
Cern coctrol room as LHC first beam goes round, 10 September 2008
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Music by Philip Glass to images by National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting in an audiovisual concert called “Origins,” a molecular gastronomy buffet by the man often considered its inventor, chef Ettore Bocchia, dignitaries from the 60 countries that have contributed to the development of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) and a party for staff: the French-Swiss border that is straddled by Cern will be a buzz of activity Tuesday 21 October, with the official inaugurations of the LHC.
