On This Day: Sep 10, 2008 – CERN – Large Hadron Collider Powered Up
How CERN – Large Hadron Collider Altered the Future of Particle Physics
The Day Science made a Profound Leap Forward
On 10th September, 2008, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), was switched on for the first time, at CERN – in Geneva, Switzerland, on the border with France. This was not another machine; This was a 27 kilometer tunnel, placed underground, physically whacking proton beams with the speed of light, to aid scientists discover how the universe was formed.
What Happened on September 10, 2008?
On that day, a single beam of protons was released and was being sent for a full circular rotation. This was the first time ever. This was a commencement of one of the most ambitious attempts in the realm of hyper energy physics. Some of the media at that time, described it as the ‘big bang’ experiment, purely because the scientists at that time hypothesised that the collision would help in comprehending how the matter was formed immediately after the big bang.
The public was thoroughly excited about the blast and at the same time, they went about circulating the dangerous rumour of a black hole being formed. In that integration period, nothing dangerous happened. Science was at its prime.
Early Challenges and Major Breakthroughs
After just 9 days of its commencement , the collider had a major issue – a helium leak and it had to be shut down for more than a year. It wasn’t operational again until 2010. In 2012, the LHC made history when it proved the existence of the so-called ‘God particle,’ the Higgs boson. This discovery filled a critical gap in the Standard Model of particle physics by demonstrating how particles acquire mass.
Why It Matters Today
The Large Hadron Collider continues to pioneer new experiments at the CERN, investigating the nature of dark matter and other fundamental particles. Also, the technologies developed for the LHC have cascaded beyond physics, with advancements in medical imaging and high speed computing.
On this date in 2008, when the first beam ventured into the buried infrastructure of the LHC, it was a celebration not just for the scientists involved, but for all people, showing that our natural curiosity can lead to big achievements.
References
