Large Hadron Collider Set to Start Up

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08/29/2008

Aug. 29, 2008

Large Hadron Collider Set to Start Up

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The massive Large Hadron Collider at CERN is just a few weeks away from startup. The particle accelerator has passed several key performance tests, and is on track to send the first beam of particles through the ring of the accelerator on September 10th.

Scientists hope that this new collider, the most powerful in the world, will provide glimpses of particles and interactions that have so far been out of reach -- including the elusive Higgs boson, a particle thought to be responsible for matter having mass. We'll get an update on the startup procedures, and talk about why physicists are excited about the instrument's upcoming experiments.

Produced by Annette Heist, Senior Producer

Guests

Dan Hooper
Associate Scientist, Theoretical Astrophysics Group

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Author, " Nature's Blueprint: Supersymmetry and the Search for A Unified Theory of Matter and Force" ( Smithsonian Books, 2008)
Assistant Professor, University of Chicago

Batavia, Illinois

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