A little LHC history…
In reading the New York Times this morning I came across an article that taught me alot about the history of supercolliders. Did you know there was a miniature one built really close by, in Berkeley? Way back in 1932! It was only a foot in diameter as opposed to the 17 mile loop of the LHC. And speaking of big loops did you know there was one being built in Texas with a 54 mile loop? Its true. It was called the Superconducting Supercollider (an arrogant Texan obviously thought up that name). But the SS program was shut down in 1993 because costs exceeded 11 Billion. Oh poor babies. 11 Billion? Oh yeah, thats way too much, especially because we have to spend 1.8 billion per week on our wars in the Middle East (according to msnbc). So now because of that brilliant decision by Congress there will be no new discoveries concerning particle physics coming out of the U.S. Which is probably a good thing, Europe will do a better job anyways.
Emilily is discussing.
Emilily 9:11 am on December 16, 2009 Permalink
Well, you know I am as big a fan of cool science as you are, so I read the New York Times article too! I have to say, I did not know we had any supercolliders in this country, but props to the one in Illinois – even if it is a measly 3.9 miles around, Tevatron is an awesome name. Although we are about to get our physics butts kicked in a serious way.