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jeroov@vsnl.comWhenyouhave finishedwith
thismagazineplease recycle it
Where there’s a will...
It’s a feature of working on a bi-monthly
magazine that, like Janus, I’m always
looking a little behind and a little ahead.
As I write, the wire SEAsia show is yet to
happen; I’malready looking to Düsseldorf,
while much of the editorial in this issue
reflects events from the summer.
So when, in the leader column of the
November 2008 issue, I celebrated the
physics behind Cern’s Large Hadron
Collider (LHC) in September ‘08 I had no
idea that the LHC would operate for just
nine days before the most expensive badly
soldered joint in history caused huge
damage and a complete shutdown.
As I write the LHC is still out of action,
and when it starts up again sometime
in November 2009 it will run at only
half-power. It means that particles will
be sauntering through the tunnel, in
two directions, at a mere 3.5TeV (tera-
electron volts) and producing collisions
of 7TeV (originally anticipated at 14TeV).
That said, its power exceeds that of any
other operating collider, and will still be
powerful enough to produce results.
Beset by problems though it may have
been, we shouldn’t allow the setbacks to
obscure what could be the LHC’s first and
arguably most valuable lesson.
The LHC is a compelling demonstration of
the power of global co-operation – at least
between scientists and engineers.
Apart from the 7,000 physicists from
80 countries who have worked on this
project, thousands of engineers (and
engineering businesses) have been
employed to develop the new techniques
and technologies needed to bring this
project to completion. And given its
potential, its cost of $6 billion (provided
by Cern’s 20-nation partnership) seems
very little, compared to even the original
£46 billion paid out to UK banks last year.
Cern and its LHC have confirmed what
countries working together can achieve.
In 2009, as we mark the 70
th
anniversary
of the outbreak of the Second World
War, we can only
hope the world’s
politicians can learn
to be united and
co-operative to the
same degree. For
the future of the
planet, there’s so
much more at stake
than a theoretical,
super - symme t r i c
particle.
Gill Watson
4