Sunday, January 25, 2009

New CERN Chief Will Be More Cautious With LHC

The new CERN Director-General, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, has indicated that he will be more cautious in starting up the LHC this summer.

Heuer, who succeeded Frenchman Robert Aymar at the beginning of this month, said the LHC will be double checked by outside experts before any attempt is made to switch the machine back on, probably in July.

"I want to be sure that everything works," said Heuer of the six billion Swiss franc particle accelerator that runs through a 27-kilometre (17-mile) tunnel under the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva.

"So I'll also let an external group make additional checks on the accelerator," he added.


We'll see if that will make a difference. It is such a complex machine, though. It is not inconceivable that there would be setbacks like this. But when it is that expensive, and in that much of a public limelight, every setbacks get amplified.

Zz.

1 comment:

\epsilon said...

I don't see what else could have been done the first. These things happen, especially when you're working with things the size of the LHC. I think they're just worried of the public opinion.