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CERN

Posted: 01 Jun 2013 22:33
by Dust
So I was in CERN with the company I work for yesterday, to visit the ATLAS detector. It was super cool (even though I had to travel around for hours all over switzerland that day, and get up at 5:45 in the morning...)

We were guided by actual Physicists. And got to see the actual detector! (It is currently in a maintenance break.
This is the control room. Since the detector is not running, only surveillance images are shown, and not many people are there.
This is a small model of the detector. You can see the tiny humans on the side for scale.
The elevator down. It is reached by passing through a two step lock with radiation detector. The elevator has its own power supply and is isolated from the rest, so it can be used even in case of a fire. (Which is important, considering the accelerator is around 100 meters below ground)
The ATLAS detector. It is currently undergoing maintenance, so the middle part is pulled out. In the inside of the detector, the collisions happen at a frequency of 40 MHz. Each collision creates about 5 MB data. The data comes from various detectors layered around the collision spot, that try to track the path a particle takes through the detector and its energy. This allows identifying the particles that are created in the collision and by that what was created in the collision.
There was an exhibition with some interesting artefacts of the past, like the first Web Server ever (the WWW was created at CERN for easier coordination and information exchange)

The trip was totally worth it :D

Re: CERN

Posted: 01 Jun 2013 22:45
by Dust
Here's a short movie of the detector: http://the-color-black.net/cern/ATLAS.mp4

Re: CERN

Posted: 02 Jun 2013 03:51
by shiftnshape
Now that was a cool looking day trip seems like you had some fun that day.

Re: CERN

Posted: 03 Jun 2013 06:09
by Idorian
I'm kind of surprised to see that you can/may take pictures there. But would love to see it too.

Re: CERN

Posted: 03 Jun 2013 07:21
by Dust
They explicitly told us to take pictures. I think they were understandably proud of their work.

Re: CERN

Posted: 03 Jun 2013 11:21
by Gyon
super cool!!!

Re: CERN

Posted: 03 Jun 2013 11:30
by Yima
Dust, could you pls tell us this before goin there? I would totally drive that 1000km only to see this too... I just could come with you as undercover computer scientist ;)
NEEED! I am impressed... and a little bit jealous...

Re: CERN

Posted: 05 Jun 2013 12:49
by MindyMcfly
Seriously cool, your so lucky Dust, super jealous! :D

Re: CERN

Posted: 08 Jun 2013 00:26
by Tiel
So cool! I'm very jealous!

Re: CERN

Posted: 08 Jun 2013 08:23
by Dust
http://outreach.web.cern.ch/outreach/visites/index.html

Geneva is a bit away from other places, and most of you are likely even further away than I was, but if you can afford the travel time, visiting the accellerator is possible. But it is the case that the main event, the underground visit, is only a small part of the visit, the rest is not as exciting.

Re: CERN

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 12:53
by Yima

Re: CERN

Posted: 02 Jul 2013 00:53
by Jem
This is amazing! I am now planning to book a trip for me and my g/f :)