Atom-Smashing Project Nears Launch in Tunnel
Scientists will launch an experiment in a tunnel deep beneath the French-Swiss border Wednesday, hoping to find evidence of extra dimensions, invisible "dark matter," and an elusive particle called the "Higgs boson."
Some skeptics have expressed fear that the proton collisions could unleash microscopic black holes that would eventually doom Earth, but leading physicists such as Stephen Hawking say the experiment will be absolutely safe.
The most powerful atom-smasher ever built will produce collisions of protons traveling at nearly the speed of light in the 17-mile-long circular tunnel, giving off showers of particles that will provide more clues as to how everything in the universe is made.
The project, planned by the 20 member nations of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has attracted researchers from 80 countries, including about 1,200 from the United States, an observer nation.