By Lisa Davis-Burnett
Isaac Newton has been quoted as saying, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”Modern day scientists stand on Newton’s shoulders, and Einstein’s and Hawkings’ and a myriad of others whose names are less well known. For all of this ilk, the ultimate goal is to see farther, delve deeper, and to gain understanding for all mankind into the nature of the universe. At a place called CERN, this sentiment is a way of life.
CERN stands above all human endeavors, equaled only perhaps by the International Space Station. It is a global gathering place for research of the highest caliber. It lies under the earth near Geneva, Switzerland. A vast complex of circular tunnels, the largest of which is 27 km in circumference. This is where much cutting edge science experimentation takes place. Here the structure of the atom is analyzed, observed, dissected and probed.
Physicists and engineers from around the world look to CERN for insights into the inner workings of matter. Above the tunnels lies an expansive campus where the offices, conference rooms, cafeterias and lounges for the CERN employees work and socialize. The World Wide Web was invented and developed in an office at CERN.
CERN goes by many names: the acronym stands for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, roughly translated: European Organization for Nuclear Research, but it is also referred to as the Super collider, Large Hadron Collider (LHC) , particle accelerator or, somewhat affectionately as, the atom smasher.
My visit last month to CERN was one of several high points of a trip across Europe where more than a few items on my bucket list got checked off. Going to CERN is not necessarily something everyone will enjoy, but those math-science-engineering types out there will be thrilled for the opportunity to tour the facilities where so many breakthroughs have been achieved. Before planning your visit, beware of two things: first of all it’s not that easy to book your tour. Secondly the tour does get somewhat technical.
TO GET ON the tour, one must be determined. Although they do several tours a day, the lists fill up quickly. And to make matters worse you cannot sign up earlier than 15 days before your visit date. Which means you have only a few hours to sign up on their website, on the morning 15 days before-hand, and if you miss that window of time you likely miss your chance to get in. I found this out the hard way and had to beg profusely and pull out my journalism credentials to get on the list 14 days before my visit. Sad, but true.
While the bulk of the experiments are carried out in the subterranean network of circles and their tangents, our group, and most tours, are not permitted under ground, due to the radiation hazards among other things. It was explained to us that our visit to CERN would expose us to less than a tenth of the radiation received by the average dental x-ray.
Rarely CERN does hold open days where the public is allowed to go down 100 meters to the experimental zones. The last time this happened was two days in September of 2013 and the next time is soon! There are actually two days at the end of this month that the special underground tour is being run for visitors, on September 28th and 29th – and the sign up is ongoing, being rolled out in small installments.
MY VISIT was a terrific experience - something I will enjoy reflecting on for years to come. The tour is conducted in two buildings on the CERN campus, tightly controlled and standardized. The tour guides are actual physicists, researchers engaged in ongoing projects at CERN, which is why much of the discussions are very technical in nature.
Our guide was a 25 year old physicist from Turkey named Serhat Atay. His easy-going nature was immediately likeable, not at all the stuffy scientist type one often imagines. He later passed us off to a fellow scientist with a few more years under his belt, Zhongliang Ren who explained how the particles actually travel through the miles of tubes and showed how the tubes are constructed. The vacuum inside the tubes reaches negative 271 degrees which makes it the coldest place in the galaxy!
WE WERE able to see and touch a device known as the Synchrocyclotron which was the very first accelerator at CERN. It operated from 1957 until 1988, and was the forerunner of the ATLAS, LEP, ALICE, LHC and other huge contraptions that represent the culmination of years of science and engineering collaboration from around the globe.
We were free to ask questions about the experiments and the theories from these brilliant researchers, and it was clear from most of the questions that the group was composed of physics teachers and other well informed science-oriented persons. We were all excited to be in the presence of the machines that have helped humanity understand the mysterious world of sub atomic particles.
IT TURNS OUT that one of the biggest challenges facing CERN is its gigantic pull of electricity. It takes a huge amount of power to accelerate subatomic particles to near the speed of light. The task is accomplished by turning powerful magnets on and off at increasingly rapid time intervals.
Since like charges repel and opposite charges attract, the particles begin to move through the tunnels according to these forces. The trick is the timing, to accelerate the particles faster and faster means mastering unbelievably fine controls of the electronics. Dedicated computers must be specifically programmed to accomplish this.
Once two particle streams are traveling in opposite directions at the highest speeds possible, the controls are set to have them collide. This collision actually breaks the particles apart, literally smashes them, and thus the researchers are able to see the effects of various fragments breaking away. These are the building blocks that make up subatomic particles. This process has led to the discovery of quarks, leptons and recently the long-searched-for Higg’s Boson.
THE HIGG’S Boson has been referred to in the media as the God Particle, which makes most casual readers think these researchers have somehow touched on the stuff of spirituality, perhaps the matter of God himself. That is far from the truth, as I learned from Serhat. He explained that so many physicists had been looking for the elusive Higg’s Boson particle for so long that some had taken to calling it the goddamned particle. Along the way, some journalist not wanting to print the epithet shortened it to god particle, which then a proofreader capitalized. Whatever the origin, the name stuck, and when it was finally identified in 2012, the world took to the phrase like kids to cookies. You have to admit, it is rather irresistible.
After the tour came to an end, Serhat offered to answer some of my questions over coffee at the CERN cafeteria. On the way there he pointed out the office where the Internet was invented and told the story of how the developer, Tim Berners-Lee, had been working on getting the connections just right for months. He finally got it operating and went home for a well deserved night’s sleep and when he came in the next morning someone had “borrowed” the power cable to the computer – letting it crash and putting him back to square one. The early morning wailing that came from that end of the building that day has become the stuff of CERN legend.
All tours of CERN are free of charge. Tours are available in French or in English, so sign up accordingly. Tours are run every day except on Sundays.
