Large Hadron Collider experiment a success

CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest machine, slammed beams of particles together at a collision energy of 7 tera-electron volts (TeV) - three and a half times faster than previously achieved in a particle accelerator. The collisions, which took place at a nano-fraction of a second slower than the speed of light in the LHC's 27km tunnel about a 100m below ground, are viewed as significant leap forward for physics. According to CERN director general, Rolf Heuer, they could be seen as a 'giant leap for mankind'. Heuer said: "It just shows what we can do in pushing knowledge forward on where we came from, how the early universe evolved." Data from the collisions will be analysed by thousands of scientists around the world linked by a computer network known as the Grid to gain insights into the nature of matter and the origins of stars and planets. CERN research director Sergio Bertolucci, stated: "This is a step into the unknown. We are doing something that no one has done before. We hope we find things that are really new. "There are known unknowns out there, like dark matter and new dimensions about which we hope to learn. But it is possible that we will find some unknown unknowns which could be hugely important for mankind. With the LHC, we have the tool that we need." Over the next two years researchers will be compiling the data and, according Oliver Buchmueller, one of the key figures in the experiment, "By the end of 2010 we think we will find evidence of dark material and confirmation that it is there and what it is."