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Archive for 10/09/2008

Large Hadron Collider -A word from Dr Shears <> Beatles Magical Memory Tour, “It’s a Revolution!”

Scientists have switched on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland in the hope of shedding light on one of the fundamental questions in physics, ‘What is mass?’ 

lhc.jpg

The current favoured model involves a particle dubbed as ‘The God Particle’.  The enormous experiment is designed to throw light on this - to understand how Nature works - and on the mysterious ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’ that makes up the large majority of the Universe.

The LHC is the biggest and most complex machine in history, taking 13 years to construct at a cost of 5bn.  The experiment involves sending two beams in opposite directions  - revolving about a huge circle of magnetic tubes. Dr Shears a particle physicist from the University of Liverpool said, “We will be looking at what the Universe was made of billionths of a second after the Big Bang.”

The project has not been without its critics with some fearing the formation of a black hole that might swallow the Earth!  We’re not merchants of doom but it’s curious that the experiment is taking place within the proximity of Lake Lucerne - the source of inspiration for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstien.

Scientists clearly hope that the LHC experiment will live long in the memory. Perhaps they’ll adopt an iconic song to remind them of the day, for a study using Beatles music has been set up which catologues 3,000 recollections of Beatles related memories.   For a long time people have noticed that music is a great way to remember events from the past.  See www.magicalmemorytour.com for details.

Our Beatles choice to make the launch of the LHC is ‘Revolution’ … It’s going to be alright!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87yq372R4Ts

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