Computer screens in the Atlas control room capture the movements of the first beams circulating the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland on September 10, 2008.
They flipped the switch, the proton’s flew, and the world hasn’t blown up, yet.
Three hundred feet underground on the French-Swiss border, the biggest physics experiment in history launched yesterday. The Large Hadron Collider.
The biggest atom smasher ever built: a seventeen-mile collision track, and sky-high hopes for cosmic breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe — of muons and gluons and quarks, of dark matter and black holes and — maybe — whole new space-time dimensions.
This hour, On Point: Particle physics, a giant new tool, the shape of the universe, and you.
You can join the conversation. What are your hopes and fears for the earth’s largest atom smasher? What’s the cosmic question you want answered when it makes its own big bang?
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests:
Joining us from Paris is Adrian Cho, staff writer for Science magazine. He was at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland yesterday when they fired up the Large Hadron Collider for its first big test.
Joining us from Driggs, Idaho, is Leon Lederman. He’s an experimental physicist, and director emeritus of the Fermilab atom smasher, outside Chicago. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1988 for his work on neutrinos, and he coined the term “God particle” for the Higgs boson with his 1992 book “The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question?”
Joining us from New York is Lisa Randall. She’s a professor of theoretical physics at Harvard University, renowned for her work on string theory and author of “Warped Passages: Unraveling The Mysteries Of The Universe’s Hidden Dimensions.”
Also from New York, we’re joined by Janna Levin. She’s a professor of physics and astronomy at Columbia University, and author of the novel “A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines.”
More links:
The official site of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN explains the science behind all the excitement.
Nature magazine’s website offers an excellent interactive diagram of the LHC, part of its special section on the collider. Also worth a visit is the BBC’s guide to the LHC.
And just for laughs, here’s a (sort of) rap video about the LHC…
Tags: Large Hadron Collider, physics, science
How does the LHC differ from the SCSC?
Could there be a silver lining in the death of SCSC?
Posted by Frederic C., on September 11th, 2008 at 11:23 AMYes, science has provided enormous unforeseen benefits to humanity, however, I’ld like to know some possible benefits that the speakers think this device will provide to humanity?
Posted by Kash Haffa, on September 11th, 2008 at 11:57 AMHas the Urantia Book been of any help to the understanding of this enterprise?
Posted by reed, on September 11th, 2008 at 12:07 PMGreat show!! If only I could understand more readily, but I love thinking about something so huge and not connected with our individual political obsessions. A good break for the mind! I don’t know if that was the point of this “On Point” segment, but it worked that way for me. Thanks! PJS
Posted by PJS, on September 11th, 2008 at 12:15 PMEnjoyed the program. My daughter, a high school student at Phillips Andover,spent time with the scientists at the program last summer and was able to interview some of the most senior people such as John Ellis, one of the masterminds of particle physics.
Carolyn won a grant from her school to interview these people. Her goal was to look at the human element behind the science and to make the science accessible to everyday people. The folks at CERN treated her as though she was from the NY Times. Carolyn wrote an excellent blog on her visit at http://lhcmatters.blogspot.com.
Posted by Gary B, on September 11th, 2008 at 2:03 PM“Yes, science has provided enormous unforeseen benefits to humanity, however, I’ld like to know some possible benefits that the speakers think this device will provide to humanity?” -Kash Haffa
I think the experiments are worth doing for their own sake, but if you insist: the most immediate benefits will likely be in micro-electronics and nanotechnology. After that, who knows.
Posted by Itzac, on September 11th, 2008 at 3:13 PMI think the experiments are worth doing for their own sake, but if you insist: the most immediate benefits will likely be in micro-electronics and nanotechnology. After that, who knows
I agree on both counts!
Human beings are wired up to be curious and to continually strive to understand the world around them, building cognitive models of their world and testing them out. This has tremendous survival value, so much so that it’s hardwired into our nature – a basic appetitive drive like sex or tasty food – this is a fundamentally human thing to do.
In addition to that it may well turn out to have practical value – that would be great, but to me it’s icing on the cake.
BTW, most people don’t realize how amazing the technology is in their own possession. For example, flash memory is based on quantum mechanics (specifically quantum tunneling) – the very thing Einsten didn’t believe because he though that “God doesn’t play dice with the universe.” Yet today the thing Einstein didn’t believe is in all our iPods and cellphones.
Posted by Peter Nelson, on September 11th, 2008 at 4:34 PMIam just wondering, What if there was no Big Bang for the creation of this world and God really does exist and he is the one created the world….. what will happend to this experient then?? Billions of dollars wasted?
Posted by Deeno, on September 11th, 2008 at 7:47 PM“Iam just wondering, What if there was no Big Bang for the creation of this world and God really does exist and he is the one created the world….. what will happend to this experient then?? Billions of dollars wasted?” -Deeno
However you believe the universe came into being, it has the appearance of being governed by rules, and the LHC will help us better understand those rules.
Posted by Itzac, on September 11th, 2008 at 8:13 PMAt some point do you think god will be unleash her wrath with us calling her he?
Posted by Freddy, on September 11th, 2008 at 8:29 PMAt some point will god unleash her wrath upon us for calling her, “him?”
Posted by Freddy, on September 11th, 2008 at 8:31 PMHi Itzac,
Very nicely written……. Thanks for a simple but very productive explanation.
Posted by Deeno, on September 11th, 2008 at 8:43 PMJust wanted to say how much I enjoy your shows. Very illuminating and educating. Just one question: why is George Bush treated with kid gloves? I am reading Vincent Bugliosi’s book on the case for charging Bush with murder and am not aware of any network/paper debating this subject.
Posted by Peter Corfield, on September 11th, 2008 at 9:03 PMWill you?
Thanks so much
Peter
The show sparked a great interest in me, as it always does. Any suggestions of books for someone who is just now attempting to grasp these concepts (quantum mechanics for dummies)? Thanks! Robert
Posted by Robert Schrautemeier, on September 11th, 2008 at 11:39 PMAs a mathematical physicist and having immensely enjoyed our visit to CERN with your group last year I have serious doubts that the Higgs Boson will be found because a successful and published algebraic theory for the Standard Model developed over many years does not find a place for the Higgs.
Posted by Dr. J.A. de Wet, on September 12th, 2008 at 1:41 AMThe universe is random. That’s guaranteed. There’s no omniscient God. The universe is much too violent an entity to have an omnipotent being controlling it. There’s no doubt that everything in the universe happens by cosmic accident and the notion of a superbeing controlling everything is wishful thinking at best. The most fascinating experiment being conducted on the LHC is the one involving extra dimensions, string theory. If the universe does have 11 dimensions, that really opens up a Pandora’s Box.
Posted by steve e., on September 12th, 2008 at 4:09 AMEverything is random? Do you realize the slim, slim, slim margin by which it’s possible for life as we know it to exist? The slightest change in gravity, stronger or weaker, would have tremendous effects on the life cycles of stars, and their ability to produce energy needed for life. The strong and weak nuclear forces, as well, are finely balanced. Then think of like itself; DNA is very much like a file system in and of itself; it’s a helix of data that’s read by the body and manifests itself as programming on how to build a life-form. Does such a thing really seem random to you?
I won’t argue theology here. I will say that the data we have on hand agrees that from the solar system level onwards, (which is all we can investigate in detail,) natural processes are responsible for the formation of stars and planets. However, one should not confuse natural processes with random processes. Gravity is a constant, not a random value. While a star’s output of energy varies, it is not random; the fluctuations may be variable, and chaotic, but certainly not random. For instance, we can predict the life cycle of the youngest star based on the spectrum of light it emits and it’s mass. Things like this aren’t the product of a random universe, but a universe that follows rules. There absolutely is order in this universe, even if there are chaotic elements, as well. And in the end, even chaos can be quantified, to a degree.
Posted by Lurkily, on September 12th, 2008 at 7:55 AMThe universe is random. That’s guaranteed. There’s no omniscient God. The universe is much too violent an entity to have an omnipotent being controlling it. There’s no doubt that everything in the universe happens by cosmic accident and the notion of a superbeing controlling everything is wishful thinking at best
Youi don’t seem to understand what “random” means.
If the universe were random we’d be in a state of complete entropy. Obviously we’re not, else we wouldn’t be having this conversation. You don’t need some omniscient being to have physical laws.
Posted by Peter Nelson, on September 12th, 2008 at 8:59 AMThank you to ON POINT and the Guest of the Crash! Bang! The Large Hadron Collider show.
I thought the Guest explained the sceince and theories behind this experiment in a simple and entertaining way that brough a lay person like myself to understand it.
we need more shows and sciencists like these to keep the mob at bay.
well done, keep up the good work.
one question I wish I could have asked. What if the experiment doesn’t produce proof of theory they are looking for? is it back to square one? is Einstein wrong?
Posted by Fred, on September 12th, 2008 at 10:27 AMone question I wish I could have asked. What if the experiment doesn’t produce proof of theory they are looking for? is it back to square one? is Einstein wrong?
The great thing about these experiments is that there is no “bad” result. If the Higgs is found it will confirm the Standard Model; if not then it means the Standard Model is wrong which means lots of physics goes back the drawing board. Either result is exciting.
Editorial Comment – many people like to comapare science and religion and say that science is just another kind of “faith”. But the above illustrates why that’s not true. Scientists don’t mind upsetting the apple cart and proving conceptual models people have held for years to be wrong. In fact they think it’s kind of fun and go to great efforts to do so.
A religion would never do that – religious truth is considered Truth with a capital “T”. Christianity would never devote vast resources (like LHC) to something that might disprove the Ressurrection. But scientific truth is truth with a lower-case “t” – it’s provisional, and is good only as long as its predictions work out – if not, it’s out on its ear!
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