Five Facts from Hildreth Lecture

On March 25, 2010, ND physics professor Michael Hildreth gave a Hesburgh Lecture to over 50 people on his work with the Large Hadron Collider.  The lecture was given in conjunction with the Physics Department at the University of Dayton.  Below are five facts that we learned from the lecture:

1. The Large Hadron Collider (“LHC”) is located on the border between Switzerland and France. It is the largest international research project ever conducted. Both French and English are spoken at the site.

2. The LHC is a 17-mile-long, underground pipe in the shape of a circle. It is the largest machine ever made.

3. The LHC recreates conditions as they existed 1/10 billionth of a second after the Big Bang.

4. For the first time ever, the LHC will begin colliding particles under research conditions next week, on March 30.  (There will be a webcast of the event.)

5. Despite the claims of some, the LHC will not destroy the planet. Scientists don’t even know if ‘black hole’-type conditions could be created at LHC. Even if they could, they would last for so short a time and be so small, that nothing would come of it.