(Maximilien Brice, © CERN)
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a massive particle physics project that the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) has undertaken. Upon completion it should run CERN somewhere from 3.2 to 6.4 billion euros at completion. The essence of particle physics is...'smash stuff together and watch the outcome'. In this case, lead ions and protons are shot at each other. The hope is that, the results of the experiments will either confirm or refute a lot of theoretical constructs in particle physics. One of the things they're looking for is the 'God Particle', AKA Higgs boson, a theorised particle that 'give mass to matter'. It's also hopped that breakthroughs in dark matter may occur aswell.
Alan Taylor author of 'The Big Pitcture" - a column on boston.com examines 'News Stories in Photographs', has put together a stunning set of images of the Large Hadron Collider. Click the image above to see the article.
National Geographic has a good write up of the project here
Who said science can't be sexy?
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