The Large Hadron Collider (CERN)

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most powerful particle accelerator ever built. Based at the
European particle physics laboratory CERN, near Geneva in Switzerland, it is the worlds largest
laboratory and is dedicated to the pursuit of fundamental science.
The LHC allows scientists to reproduce the conditions that existed within a billionth of a second after
the Big Bang. This is the moment, around 14 billion years ago, when the Universe is believed to have
started with an explosion of energy and matter. During this first moment of time the particles and
forces that shaped our Universe came into existence.
Scientists recreate these conditions by colliding beams of high-energy protons or ions at close to the
speed of light. This takes place inside the LHCs 27km circular accelerator 100m below the ground.
On 4 July 2012 two of the experiments on the LHC, ATLAS and CMS, announced that they had
detected a Higgs-like Boson. Further announcements since have confirmed that it is the boson
physicists have been looking for since it was predicted 50 years ago. This is one of the greatest
discoveries of our time made possible by the unique conditions of the LHC.
The LHC is a vast circular tunnel buried underground that uses giant magnets to propel particles at
ever increasing speeds around and around. It is so powerful that it's able to accelerate the particles
to an incredible 99.9999% of the speed of light.