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CERN sticks to opening gala despite atom-smasher troubles
European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) scientists in Geneva are pictured during the switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's biggest atom-smasher. Europe's leading physicists will swap their lab coats for their best suits next month for the official inauguration of a multi-billion dollar machine designed to shed light on the "Big Bang".
There's just one problem -- the experiment itself will be out of action for almost eight months, after a faulty electrical connection caused a massive helium leak.
Nevertheless, the head of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said Friday that the inauguration ceremony will go ahead as planned on October 21.
Heads of state from CERN's 20 members have been invited but the laboratory does not yet know who will be present in Geneva for the ceremony.
The giant experiment called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) took nearly 20 years to complete and cost six billion Swiss francs (3.76 billion euros, 5.46 billion dollars) to build in a tunnel complex under the Franco-Swiss border.
The LHC was launched to global fanfare on September 10 but almost immediately hit problems.
Scientists said a faulty electrical connection between magnets was likely to blame for a large helium leak which caused the LHC to be shut down last Thursday owing to a fault with its cooling system.
"The time necessary for the investigation and repairs precludes a restart before CERN's obligatory winter maintenance period, bringing the date for restart of the accelerator complex to early spring 2009," CERN said at the time in a statement.
The LHC is a 27-kilometre (16.9-mile) circular tunnel in which parallel beams of protons accelerate close to the speed of light.
It aims to resolve some of the greatest questions surrounding fundamental matter, such as how particles acquire mass and how they were forged some 13.7 billion years ago.
© 2008 AFP
Nevertheless, the head of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said Friday that the inauguration ceremony will go ahead as planned on October 21.
Heads of state from CERN's 20 members have been invited but the laboratory does not yet know who will be present in Geneva for the ceremony.
The giant experiment called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) took nearly 20 years to complete and cost six billion Swiss francs (3.76 billion euros, 5.46 billion dollars) to build in a tunnel complex under the Franco-Swiss border.
The LHC was launched to global fanfare on September 10 but almost immediately hit problems.
"The time necessary for the investigation and repairs precludes a restart before CERN's obligatory winter maintenance period, bringing the date for restart of the accelerator complex to early spring 2009," CERN said at the time in a statement.
The LHC is a 27-kilometre (16.9-mile) circular tunnel in which parallel beams of protons accelerate close to the speed of light.
It aims to resolve some of the greatest questions surrounding fundamental matter, such as how particles acquire mass and how they were forged some 13.7 billion years ago.
© 2008 AFP
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