Great news: we haven’t been swallowed up by a black hole today!

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a giant particle accelerator built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The purpose of the LHC is to gain a better understanding of the relationship among fundamental forces (electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and gravity). We may even even gain insight about the very origins of the universe itself. The first proton bean was circulated today and the first collision is scheduled for October 21, 2008.

Kate McAlpine’s rap about the LHC:

Excellent series of articles from Geoff Brumfiel in Nature:

• Voices from the collider: Nature talks to physicists about their hopes for the Large Hadron Collider.
• LHC switches on: Giant accelerator sees first beam circulate successfully.
• Physicists flock to Geneva: The start up of the world’s biggest particle collider lures researchers from around the world.
• LHC by the numbers: The largest particle accelerator in the world, which will feel its first full proton beams tomorrow, just oozes numerical hyperbole.

In-depth report on the LHC from Scientific American: Large Hadron Collider: Countdown and more recently: Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is live — and so are we

CERN resources:

• The safety of the LHC
• Facts and Figures
• Why the LHC?
• How the LHC works

PhD comics: Tales from the Road series at CERN:

• Tales from the Road - CERN, pt 1
• Tales from the Road - CERN, pt 2
• Tales from the Road - CERN, pt 3