A director at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva told BBC News that mistakes were made in construction and therefore the machine must close again for 1 year of repairs at the end of 2011. It will reach 7 trillion electron volts (TeV) later this month to study the nature of "dark matter" but will need modifications lasting a year to enable it to reach its full potential of 14TeV in order to recreate the conditions in the moments after the Big Bang. Viewed by many as a financial 'white elephant' of epic proportion and by others the price to pay for astonishing frontier science. What's your view? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8556621.stm
I think its a worth while science development, its the biggest experiment in the world and hardly anyone knows about it.
It is especially depressing that even in Europe there is such a general lack of awareness concerning the project. Without taking sides but to put things in a financial perspective, I read that even assuming a moderate case scenario, the Iraq conflict will end up costing the US an estimated $3000 billion (Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics).
In my view, the exorbitant price tag associated with this experiment makes it unjustifiable. What is the need for such extravagant experiments... when the same resources could be put to better use to improve Earth's environment and the living standards of its inhabitants! Regards, RightMan
Obviously both of you have no knowledge of physics. Want a hoverboard? Want to fix global warming? - LHC.