Since yesterday, there’s been a wave of news on all of the technology news portals that CERN is going to re-create the big-bang that once created our universe some 14 billion years ago, on a very small scale. The term ‘small scale’ is used in relative to the size of the universe, but practically speaking this experiment is one of the biggest (and the most expensive!) the world has ever seen. But very few know that creating ‘big-bangs’ is not entirely new for CERN, since, well, it is the birth place of the World Wide Web (WWW). Many of us think that WWW is an American invention, but you just need to revisit your scientific history classes in your high school. The invention of the WWW became one of the biggest and best of disruptive technologies, and most of todays communications is via the web, which is evolving.
This Wednesday, September 10, CERN particle-physics lab will fire the LHC that will eventually shoot proton beams through the massive 27-kilometer round ring of tunnels set up beneath the Swiss-French border. This experiment is supposed to re-create those extreme conditions of the freshly born universe, though as mentioned before, in relatively small quantities.
People who have read the fiercely gripping novel ‘Angels and Demons‘ by Dan Brown, would have got a slight glimpse of matter and anti-matter in science. The results of this experiment would try to find the answers to questions and riddles about anti-matter, the composition of a newly formed universe, mass and so on.
Well, so… this is just an experiment…why is there so much fuss about this thing? The scientists working on this project have received death threats from critics who think that this experiment will create tiny black holes that will eventually cause the end of this universe. Is man that powerful? I thought he is capable of destroying planet earth, but never ever had I thought of his capabilities of destroying our universe.
The scientists behind this project have spent more than half of their life on particle physics, and this experiment presents before them an excellent (practical) opportunity to verify all of their theories developed for almost half-a-century. Hence, I strongly believe that they are not just going to do something silly that would devour our universe. Wise men out there!
Another reason for me believing that this experiment will not be catastrophic is that it starts on September 10 and not September 11!! pun intended.
Well, let’s sit tight and watch the outcomes of this ‘celestial’ experiment that could go on for a few years from now!
In the mean time, the goverment of Tamil Nadu (the master mind of free color televisions project) can try improving the roadways, waterways and provide uninterrupted electricity to its tax-paying citizens. I guess this is not as hard as constructing a LHC or conducting an experiment of this big a scale.
Pic from: msnbc
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