If you don’t like particle physics look away now. In fact, if you don’t like particle physics turn off all electronic equipment, burn your newspaper and go and sit in the bottom of a well for a least the next week because there is no escaping the Large Hadron Collider at the moment.
Nature’s leading blagger-of-foreign-travel Geoff Brumfiel is over near Geneva to witness the momentous turning on of the largest / most important / groundbreaking / awesome / sexy / amazing / powerful / expensive / etc / etc / etc experiment ever.
They’re all clapping and cheering over there right now, he says.
Here’s what the rest of the world says…
Over the pond the Christian Science Monitor is lamenting the fact that the LHC is in Europe:
For many scientists, including a large contingent from the United States, the project represents a success story for international cooperation on “big science.” But it also serves as evidence that the center [sic] of gravity for high-energy physics has shifted away from its post-World War II home in the United States.
The shift coincides with a broader US debate over whether the nation is in danger of losing its edge in science, technology, and innovation, notes David Goldston, a visiting lecturer at Harvard University who specializes in science policy.
Take that America! All your bosons are belong to us!
Wired has a nice run down on what the LHC will or won’t prove regarding five major physics theories: Big Bang, String, Dark Matter, “Our Universe Is Not Alone”, and the Standard Model. The Telegraph is also running down LHC predictions.
The BBC proclaims from its home page: ‘Success for ‘Big Bang’ experiment’. Really? Success? They’ve got results already?
Well no. They’ve turned the machine on. But in these LHC-crazy times that counts as success. This could be a useful rule if applied to the rest of life:
Successful cleaning of house (vacuum cleaner plugged in to socket).
Successful completion of story for editor (journalist logs in to office system)
Celebrating claims that the LHC would bring planet-level doom, the Times runs down “30 of the most memorable apocalypses that never, for one reason or another, quite happened”. The Times should also be awarded a prize for most florid description of the LHC switch on: “The Large Hadron Collider has been fired up this morning as scientists attempt to open a window on their imagination.”
Even the sporting columns are getting in on the LHC madness for Higg’s sake! Where will it end? Well, not in a black hole as this website makes clear.
Others blogging the LHC include Cosmic Variance, Symmetry Breaking and Resonaances.
Image: LHC First Beam Day / ©CERN Geneva