Washington, DC) – The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be turned on for the first time at 3:30 A.M. Eastern Time tomorrow. The LHC is the largest experimental facility in the world dedicated to the study of high energy particle physics. It is located at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland, but the United States has made significant contributions to the project.
“This is a huge achievement for the scientific community and a shining example of international scientific cooperation,” said House Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). “The U.S. has been a proud partner, through funding and intellectual collaboration, and I’m especially pleased that our contribution to this cutting edge, first-of-its-kind facility is on time and on budget.”
Particle accelerators such as the LHC use electric and magnetic fields to force beams of subatomic particles to collide at extremely high energies. The experiment is attempting to replicate some conditions of the very early universe, before matter coalesced into its present form. Scientists anticipate that each collision will release enough energy to create and briefly detect other predicted particles. Physicists may see the first proof of the Higgs boson, which will help explain the origin of mass.
“Particle physics works to understand the most fundamental building blocks of matter and energy,” said House Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). “This type of basic, forward-looking science has the potential to transform the way we live our lives.”
Some critics have questioned the safety of the experiment.
“High-energy collisions, like those that will happen at the LHC, happen frequently, in the atmosphere and in space.” said Gordon. “By creating the collisions under controlled conditions, scientists will be able to better study the results.”
For more information, please visit the Committee’s website.
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