Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


5

Collider May Be Back Online by Late Fall—on Low

Physicists bail for US as troubles crop up at Swiss megaproject

Share

(Newser) – It took 15 years and $9 billion to build, but since its massively hyped debut in September, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland hasn't collided any particles at all. Physicists in Europe are certain the 17-mile machine will eventually produce revolutionary science, on everything from dark matter to extra dimensions. After fixing thousands of bad electrical connections, engineers expect the Hadron Collider to be up again by winter, but it could be years before the machine works at full strength.

Many researchers, frustrated at the slow pace, have abandoned the project for a smaller competitor in Illinois. As the New York Times reports, the faltering of CERN's mega-machine has helped to slow a brain drain of physicists from America to Europe, particularly younger scholars who need to work toward tenure. "The public pays for this," says one CERN physicist, "and we need to start delivering."

The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., has become a competitor to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., has become a competitor to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.   (AP Photo/Fermilab)
The meltdown of a connection between superconducting magnets nine days after the activation of the Large Hadron Collider was troublesome, but not unexpected.
The meltdown of a connection between superconducting magnets nine days after the activation of the Large Hadron Collider was troublesome, but not unexpected.   (AP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini, Pool, File)
CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle collider, is scheduled to restart in fall 2009.
CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle collider, is scheduled to restart in fall 2009.   (Photo: Business Wire)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.20.09
The Health-Care Wars Have Just Begun
11.19.09
Sarah Palin Deserves Some More Attention
5 comments
VIEWING:
 
Snarfeh
Aug 4, 09 8:03 AM CDT
Bummer. I really, really want to see this puppy crunk up. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+5
IN RESPONSE:
Mad
Aug 4, 09 10:50 AM CDT
Oh, me too! The science it promises to unlock should be breathtaking!
Vote up! Vote down!
+1
newsrmandan
Aug 4, 09 1:07 PM CDT
Billions of billions of years ago on an earth like planet some one built a similar collider. They created a black whole the remains of which became known as our universe. And two primitive molecules fatefully (scratch that) chanced upon each other the rest of course is scientific fact as we know it. What not plausible? Its a better explanation then two proteins finding themselves on the backs of crystals. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
IN RESPONSE:
kokuaguy
Aug 4, 09 6:02 PM CDT
So my memory may be failing me here ... are you Christiian Dan?
Vote up! Vote down!
+1
cognitivefilter
Aug 4, 09 11:02 PM CDT
am i the only one who is nervous about such experiments? what if we suck ourselves into a black hole? what if we destroy matter and the whole universe goes off balance? whatevs let's hope for the best. FULL THROTTLE Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

37 Stories

 Hadron Collider 
 Restarts Briefly 

After 14 months of repairs, proton beams circulate

Nov 20, 09 6:06 PM CST
(Newser) - The Large Hadron Collider roared to life today for the first time since September 2008. "The first tests of injecting subatomic particles" took just a fraction of a second, a CERN rep said, but the circulation of the proton beams confirmed that the repairs instituted 9 days after the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Switzerland • Big Bang • tunnel • CERN • Large Hadron Collider • European Organization for Nuclear Research • protons

say what?

 Physicists: 
 Bird From the Future 
 Damaged Collider 

Theory says the universe is sabotaging the big experiment

Nov 11, 09 4:50 PM CST
(Newser) - CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is having a tough time getting on its feet—construction delays, birds, etc.—but now two physicists have a novel theory about why: The experiment is so “abhorrent” to God, or nature, that the universe is conspiring to sabotage it. When scientists get... More »

MORE ABOUT:
CERN • Large Hadron Collider • particle physics • Higgs boson • God particle • future • time travel • theoretical physics • Peter Higgs • Bech Nielsen

Surfer Dude's Theory of Everything May School Science

Yurt-dweller rivets
the establishment

Nov 11, 09 8:09 AM CST
(Newser) - Science needs more people like Garrett Lisi, writes Roger Highfield at the Daily Telegraph . Lisi kitesurfs on Maui, lives in a yurt, snowboards at Tahoe—and has wowed physicists with his "theory of everything." The surfer dude scientist claims to have solved the biggest problem in physics by... More »

MORE ABOUT:
physics • yurt • scientists • snowboarding • surfers • Garrett Lisi

37 Stories


Science & Health  •  World 
TwitterFollow @NewserScience on Twitter

 
physics • CERN • Large Hadron Collider

from our news partners

Associated PressAssociated Press