IOP Members and the LHC

Members of the Institute have been working towards switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider since its first inception in the late 1960s. Members, old and new, have been counting down the moments until switch-on and the start of the biggest physics experiment ever.

Ted Wilson

Professor Ted Wilson is now a Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, where he explains accelerator science to first year postgraduates, but was in the 1960s one of the LHC Design Team and will now see his team’s work, started more than forty years ago, come to fruition.

Although no longer working at CERN, about switch-on, he says, “It is not hard for me to share the excitement. Switch-on is the climatic moment of such projects bringing with it the fear of possible failure, the scientific fascination of investigating technical setbacks and the final triumph of achieving the purpose for which the machine has been designed.”

One of the most rewarding aspects for Professor Wilson is the renaissance that LHC has spurred in European physics collaborations and the rediscovery of the ‘lost’ science of particle accelerators in UK universities.

“To my family and friends I explain that in this world, run by accountants looking for short term gains from any research, LHC stands out as an unusual example of mankind prepared to spend a large amount of money and resources on pure knowledge for its own sake. This will continue a long line of scientific endeavour which has enlightened and underpinned our whole civilization. It ensures that the pipeline of scientific discovery, which has led to most of today’s technologies, continues to be fed.”

Freya Blekman

Darren Price

Two active researchers, Dr. Freya Blekman, a physicist from Cornell University, US, and Darren Price, a graduate student from Lancaster University, both work at CERN and have responsibility for some of the software which will process data from the detectors. As such, they will be right at the forefront when investigations into the particle collisions begin.

Freya said, “I am very excited about the first collisions but even more interested in when the accelerator starts running in a stable way so that we can start investigating the data. By investigating the elementary particles that LHC creates, the same as those that were created a billionth of a billionth of a second after the Big Bang, we will definitely improve our understanding of our Universe and how it was made.”

Both researchers love their jobs and are constantly impressed by the scope of the experiment being undertaken at CERN. Darren said, “It was only when I saw the experiment in the flesh that I could really appreciate how much of an achievement the LHC is.

“It is so incredibly huge yet at smaller scales so incredibly intricate. Each of thousands of wires leading somewhere important, each microchip doing its own crucial job. This enterprise draws on the extremes of human ability in all areas of science and technology.”

Phil Allport

Members based in the UK’s universities’ physics departments have also been heavily involved in preparation for switch-on. Professor Phil Allport, Head of Particle Physics at the University of Liverpool, leads UK research on the ATLAS detector. The detector which, many suspect, will find the Higgs-Boson and therefore explain why particles differ in mass.

On the University of Liverpool’s contribution to LHC success, Professor Allport said, “We built two rather significant sub-detector systems for LHC experiments at Liverpool of which we are suitably very proud. Friends and family are usually impressed that we are part of such a unique and high profile project and often the local public are not aware that scientists from Liverpool are so deeply involved.”

Antonio Ereditato

As an international collaboration, members from overseas have been just as heavily involved. Professor Antonio Ereditato, Director of the Laboratory for High Energy Physics at Bern, leads 5 different research projects and will be using the ATLAS detector to further our understanding of particle physics.

When asked whether the thought of switch-on is exciting him, he said, “Yes, of course! This is like opening a window on an unknown view: you expect to see mountains but maybe you see a sea shore…”

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