At Last, Collider Gets Atoms Smashing

First proton beams collide in huge contraption

By Will McCahill, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 23, 2009 7:09 PM CST

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At Last, Collider Gets Atoms Smashing — Part of the Large Hadron Collider is seen in its tunnel at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. (AP Photo)

For the first time, the world’s largest, most expensive science experiment worked as it was supposed to today, with the Large Hadron Collider sending beams of protons smashing into each other—as envisioned when it first opened in 2008. The 17-mile track underneath the French-Swiss Alps has seen more than its share of fits and starts, and one scientist called today’s development a “great achievement.”
(More Large Hadron Collider stories.)

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