When you’re dealing with smashing atoms and black holes, you can’t be too careful. That’s why Cern is delaying the re-opening of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) by three months to allow for additional safety work.
The LHC is a giant track, running under France and Switzerland, that allows scientists to replicate the Big Bang, but on a much smaller scale.
It was shut down shortly after its opening last year by a liquid helium leak. Original plans had been for it to re-open in June, but that’s now been put back to September, with the first atoms set to be smashed the following month.
Cern Director General Rolf Heuer said:
“The schedule we have now is without a doubt the best for the LHC and for the physicists waiting for data.”
“It is cautious, ensuring that all the necessary work is done on the LHC before we start up, yet it allows physics research to begin this year.”
Expect the first real results in 2010.
