Physicists around the world, some in pyjamas and others with champagne, celebrated the first tests on Wednesday of a huge particle-smashing machine they hope will simulate the “Big Bang” that created the universe.
Experiments using the underground Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, the biggest and most complex machine ever made, could revamp modern physics and unlock secrets about the universe and its origins.
Staff in the control room on the border of Switzerland and France clapped as two beams of particles were sent silently first one way and then the other around the LHC’s 17-mile (27-km) underground chamber.
“Things can go wrong at any time,” said project leader Lyn Evans, who wore jeans and running shoes for the LHC’s debut.
“But this morning we had a great start.”
It will be weeks or months before two particles ever crash together in the giant tube, and even longer before scientists can interpret results, said Jos Engelen, chief scientific officer of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
“Anything between a year and four years, depending on how difficult this new physics is to find,” Engelen said.
Update: A video piece on this story from last night’s NBC news is here.
What idiotic hubris.
#1- ?
How it works: [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM]The Large Hadron Rap[/url]!
That was my thought exactly Chris.
The hubris is the idea that we can know anything about the beginning of the universe, since such beginnings, by their very definition lie outside the domain of the universe we now study. This is really just deductive philosophy dressed up as science.
By sheer logic and reasoning, and by the virtue of the nature of scientific inquiry, you can NOT know the “beginning”. To know the “beginning”, you have to know the “beginning” and the origins of the universe you have to know the beginning and the origin of the beams and the particles.”
I ask: Before the “Big Bang”, what?
And before whatever it was that preceded the “Big Bang”, what?
We can go and on with this.
The only thought that makes scientific (yes, scientific) sense is that science, by its very own definition and method, cannot provide the answer to the question of “origin” in the true sense of the word “originâ€.
However, (I must add) through science and scientific inquiries, we learn more and we know more about the universe, about “life” and much more. BUT the question of “origin” cannot be answered by science.
Everyday, I thank God for giving us the gift of intellect, and general knowledge – including scientific knowledge that enable us live better and enjoy life more abundantly. I pray we receive and use such gifts from God with gratitude and humility.
Fr. Kingsley Jon-Ubabuco
St. Philip-the-Apostle
Arlington, TX