Scientists receive death threats over Large Hadron Collider
'Anyone who thinks it will destroy the world is a t***'
Monday, 8 September 2008
AP
This March 22, 2007 file photo shows the magnet core of the world's largest superconducting solenoid magnet (CMS, Compact Muon Solenoid) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)'s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator
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The scientists behind the world's biggest ever experiment, the Large Hadron Collider, have received death threats.
Experts are attempting to recreate the forces which occurred in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang.
The $10bn machine at CERN near Geneva will be switched on this Wednesday.
But sceptics fear it could cause the end of the world.
Professor Brian Cox of Manchester University has responded angrily to doomsayers who have predicted an Armageddon.
"Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a t***," he said.
Professor Cox added: "There's a kind of magic energy we've not been able to get to, and we know from previous experiments that's where things happen.
"Now for the first time, we'll be crossing that barrier."
The LHC will fire particles around its 17-mile tunnel - at almost the speed of light - smashing protons into each other.
Scientists then hope to observe the conditions that existed in the aftermath of the Big Bang and hunt down an elusive particle known as the Higgs Boson.
The Large Hadron Collider: End of the world, or God's own particle?
A bewildered Cole Moreton goes in search of the science behind the spin...
Yes, but what is it? That has been many people's reaction to the furore over the Large Hadron Collider, due to be switched on this Wednesday. The biggest, most expensive experiment in history is attracting both scientific hyperbole and hysteria. Some say it will reveal the universe's secrets and lead to the elusive Theory of Everything. A few fear that unleashing unimaginable power beneath the Swiss countryside will result in the end of the world. But how? And what do all these words mean?
Large
Is an understatement. A giant circular tunnel, with several loops, stretches for 27km under the land between France and Switzerland. One of its experimental chambers is bigger than the nave of Westminster Abbey.
Hadron
The name for one of the types of particle that make up an atom. These tiny bits of energy will be propelled by giant magnets around the tunnel circuit at almost the speed of light.
Collide
Is what they will do when they meet other hadrons being beamed in the opposite direction, at the same great speed. The resulting explosion will create 100,000 times more heat than the sun, apparently. Thankfully, it will only happen for a moment, in an area a billion times smaller than a speck of dust.
Cern
Pronounced "sern". The French acronym for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, which built the £5bn collider. The money came from 20 countries, including Britain, which has played a leading role.
The Big Bang
Is what they are trying to recreate. Or rather what happened a trillionth of a second after the universe was created by an explosion, 13.7 billion years ago. For that tiny moment, it is believed everything was molten plasma. This cooled to create everything we see around us. The hope is that by remaking the moment, in miniature, the scientists will be able to see things that are invisible now.
The God Particle
Big name, very small thing; and the first great discovery they hope to make. It is believed we have only detected a quarter of the particles in everything. We don't, for example, know why things have mass. (To get a feeling for what that is, hit yourself over the head with an inflatable hammer, then a real one. The one that hurts has more mass.) In 1964 Professor Peter Higgs of Edinburgh University predicted an unseen particle that provided mass (its official name is a Higgs boson). The hope is it will be detected for the first time. Other possible revelations include so-called dark matter, which in theory "stretches through space like an invisible skeleton".
The Theory of Everything
The Holy Grail of science. A unifying theory providing one explanation for the forces at work in the natural world, from the nucleus of an atom to the movements of the planets. Sounds like alchemy to non-scientists, but some very respectable minds believe it is possible, and that the collider may show the way.
The End of the World
Some scientists, on the other hand, went to the European Court for Human Rights to try to stop the collider being turned on. They fear it may create a black hole – which would certainly violate our rights by sucking the planet into... well we don't really know. Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith of Cern says: "The chance we produce a black hole is minuscule." Which is not all that reassuring. But he adds: "Even if we do, it can't swallow up the Earth." It would be too small, and disappear in moments. In any case, they will only send the hadrons in one direction this week. The collisions start in October. Until then, at least, we're not all doomed.
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Cern employees release LHC rap video
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123 Comments
First of all, I'd like to thank the fearmongers for the suicides that have already occured by the depressed who felt hopeless. I don't know about you, but being told you only have about a month to live isn't all that comforting. Way too many people have been focusing on the 0.00000something9 chance of being at risk than being 99.999999% safe. I hope.
Second of all, I'd like to live. I know all of you are trivializing the lives of others by saying "WELL WE'VE ALL GOT TO DIE SOMETIME". Well, sorry, but I don't plan on dying any time soon. I've worked WAY too hard to die for something within our control.
Third of all, this event's really bringing the worst out of many people. This is an opportunity for some people to jump at attacking people's religions and their political views. I mean, shut up, dude.
Either way, I'm looking forward to being alive on October 22nd and not having to listen to a bunch of people making asses out of themselves anymore.
Posted by October 22nd, plz | 14.09.08, 22:46 GMT
Out of the world of Science Fiction comes a structure and experiment that may well change mans' relationship with the universe for ever.... The 'discovery' of dimensions beyond the four that have dictated human experience thus far, would be mind boggling. Physics, Philosophy and Mankind stand at a cross road; one can only surmise at to the outcome, but the results may break down some of the dogma and intransigence that has limited our relationship to the beautiful universe in which we live and help reignite our sense of wonder and magic.
Posted by barry cawston | 14.09.08, 09:33 GMT
Before the Big Bang.
The Big Bang is called by this unflattering name because Fred Hoyle, like many of us, found the idea of a special point in time almost as silly as believing the Earth to be the centre of the Universe.
Nevertheless, it seems to be true. But note that there is no time "before" the Big Bang, just as there is no temperature below absolute zero. It's not just the beginning of space, it's the beginning of space-time. The idea of a God, (complete with that which makes a Him), starting something in a time that doesn't exist yet is more difficult to imagine than a God that is co-existent with an eternal Universe.
Posted by Albert the skeptic | 13.09.08, 18:23 GMT
grizwald,
Einstein's energy equation provides the equivalence formula for mass and energy. It therefore unites the law of Conservation of Matter with the First Law of Thermodynamics.
Religion:
Science doesn't destroy the evidence for God, (there is none) but a careful study shows how ALL living things seem to need either to eat some other living thing, or to crowd them off the planet. Spinoza said that if this makes us doubt God's love, we don't understand God.
I respect Spinoza, but I'm not going to worship his God.
Posted by Albert the skeptic | 13.09.08, 18:10 GMT
For a reply to Albert Heaton, there is at the Gutenberg Project a copy of a 'lay sermon' given by T.H.Huxley entitled, I think "On the Desirability of Advancing Natural Knowledge". He holds that the founding of the Royal Society for that purpose was a more significant event than either the Fire of London or the Plague that also struck. He even makes a good case that, thanks to science, people are kindlier than they were when religion (even among Englishmen) would set them at each others' throats.
Posted by Albert John Rogers | 13.09.08, 17:51 GMT
I personally find the experiments going on at CERN fascinating. Imagine finally having a standard model. This experiment will answer some existing hypothesis and lead scientists to a whole new World of Questions pushing the boundaries of human knowledge. 'Educated' and 'informed' people like Tom (below) clearly think they know better though.
For the record I also look forward to the standard model because it will provide one more nail in the coffin for the cult of religion.
I look forward to reading comments from 'outraged'.
Posted by M Spence | 12.09.08, 16:59 GMT
Tom posted, " Surely there are better ventures to invest £5billion in"
Tom, if you have any concern with the waste of money why don't you tackle the money that is used to fund an illegal war in Iraq? How about Afghanastan or the money used to train thousands to kill in so called armies? Or how about taxpayers money bailing out criminal banksters at Northern Rock to the tune of £20billion? Yet you focus on the £5billion that is aimed at advancing humanity. How about the £9billion+ being spent on a sporting event in London 2012? Or how about the millions that is wasted on proping up the crashing property market with taxpayers money? The £5billion comes from various countries so it's not like its all coming out of our pockets like the other things I mentioned above.
At least the scientists at CERN are trying to find out new knowledge to propell us into the future. What they are trying to find will have an effect on us and our future.
Lets hope though they don't screw up!
Posted by Liam | 12.09.08, 10:20 GMT
All this for a chance to make our lives that much more theoretically meaningless. Wonderful. Hope they find a way to make a better laptop out of it.
Posted by jack | 12.09.08, 06:24 GMT
Im sorry for human stupidity.
And im feeling bad for i cant use my rights to protect myself
of not being killed by others.
Weird feelings to see that people play with other peoples lifes.
Posted by Nyo | 12.09.08, 02:09 GMT
If that black hole ruins MY Halloween i will be mad!
Posted by Michelle Green | 11.09.08, 01:30 GMT
Oh, so I set my alarm for Doomsday at 4am just to find out that the collisions start NEXT month. Great! =D
Posted by David S | 10.09.08, 21:14 GMT
Anyone fancy a pint on October 21st? :)
Posted by Flim | 10.09.08, 17:13 GMT
Of course we are still alive - that's because they won't actually smash any protons together until October! The scientists do NOT know what will happen - that's the whole point of science to find out!
Posted by Paul | 10.09.08, 16:33 GMT
I think they left 3 letters off the sign at CERN, it should read CON-CERN.
One question, what is the point? Is this not just a case of the scientists trying to re-ignite the Science vs Religion argument? Surely there are better ventures to invest £5billion in. Would it not have been more prudent to use this money to discover and develop renewable energy sources and methods of counteracting global warming. These boffins are just living out their geek dreams. Could they not have got the same results from whacking two frozen conkers together and filming the results. What real benefit does this exercise offer humanity? In short, somethings aren't meant to be known, they just are - end of, leave it be and get a hobby that doesn't potential wipe earth out of the solar system.
Posted by Tom | 10.09.08, 14:42 GMT
Lets suppose that the first "Big Bang" was caused by a bunch of
scientists with an LHC looking for a Higgs Boson particle !!!
Does history repeat itself in a "Groundhog Day" of science,
or is that just a wee bit too "free-thinking" for the masses.?
Posted by Chris | 10.09.08, 14:02 GMT
End of the world? Load of clap trap. Bring it on, it's an exciting time for science and human history.
Put it this way IF the world was to end (and it's not) then if you are religious you have nothing to fear since you believe you are going to a better place with God/Allah/whatever other "creator" you believe in. If your not religious, why worry, your life has to end sometime why not with a bang! And we will all go at once!!
Anyway it's not gonna end, stop scare mongering and it just shows how ignorant and greedy newspapers are selling guff like this. And how ignorant and uneducated some people really are. I cant wait for the results of this, I believe it will be life changing for us all.
Wonder what our Minister of the Environment makes of it all?? lol
Posted by Gary | 10.09.08, 13:48 GMT
Many of these posts, unfortunately, display a lack of scientific knowledge, especially the one which describes the collision of atoms whereas the collisions are of sub-atomic particles.
Posted by robbo | 10.09.08, 13:17 GMT
It is too early to say yet if this scientific experiment will produce a black hole. They have only switched the machine on and won't be colliding any atoms until 21st October. We are not out of the woods yet. I go abroad on my hols then. Could they not postpone the colliding of the atoms until the week after ?
Posted by LINDA | 10.09.08, 11:33 GMT
I have been destroyed by a black hole. I hope you scientists in CERN are sorry now.
Posted by Ian | 10.09.08, 11:22 GMT
Dont forget that it was the Cern institute who invented the internet which we are all using right now! the benefits of discovery are not always predictible, many usefull things like penicillin for example are an unexpected consequence of scientific observation
Posted by ian | 10.09.08, 11:09 GMT
123 Comments