TheLarge Hadron Collider(LHC) is the largest and most complex machine ever created by mankind. It is a 27-km-circumference tunnel built underground on the border between France and Switzerland, with two tubes in which a vacuum similar to that of interstellar space has been generated. Surrounding the tubes are more than 1,600 superconducting electromagnets, cooled to a temperature below that of outer space (-271.3°C), which accelerate protons and heavy ions in the empty tubes to speeds very close to the speed of light.
A 360° tour of the Large Hadron Collider. Credits: BBC News
Although distance makes visits to the LHC difficult, academics at the Saphir Millennium Institute carry out LHC-related activities and guided tours of the particle accelerator and the Atlas experiment, one of the seven detectors where hadron collisions are analysed.
If you are interested in participating in one of the visits organised by our team of researchers, we invite you to regularly check our calendar of events and follow us on our social networks.