LIFT07: CERN's 27km Big Bang machine, Brian Cox

Half the particle physicists in the world are connected to CERN.

We're trying to understand the basic building blocks of the universe.

"All science is either physics or stamp collecting" - Ernest Rutherford (who went on to win a Nobel Prize for chemistry).

"We are the little difference in behaviour between matter and anti-matter"

Things that have weight do so because their particles are surrounded by Higgs particles.

Dataflow : 10k encyclopedia britannicas;/second generated by the Hadron Collider.

95% of the universe is made up out of stuff that isn't our matter. 25% dark matter.

Show's a video of two galaxies colliding together. The dark matter just passes on, the normal matter collides and bangs into itself.

"We can see 11 dimensions by making mini-black holes in the Hadron Collider. Which is not dangerous, honest."

"The Higgs is a theory. We got the money on the basis that we'd find it. If we don't we'll have to run away."

My notes for this one are poor because I've spent most of the talk with my mouth open, jaw on desk.

Comments

[Sophie]

Sounds absolutely fascinating. :) Would have loved to have heard it.

[Dominic Mitchell]

It's a shame you missed Café Scientifique (http://www.cafe-scientifique-brighton.org.uk/ ) last month -- we had a lady from Bristol Uni talking about the LHC.