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'Big Bang' experiment
10/09/2008
Tribute was today paid to the 'crucial' role of Scottish experts in one of the biggest scientific experiments ever to be carried out.
At 8.30 am today (September 10) the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be switched on in Geneva. The LHC - the largest machine in the world - will collide protons together at the highest energies ever achieved, recreating the conditions that existed a fraction of a second after the 'Big Bang' at the start of the universe.
The LHC will attempt to discover how particles get their mass, a major objective for scientists exploring particle physics. It may be able to identify a possible particle known as the 'Higgs Boson' which was first theorised in 1964 by Peter Higgs, currently Professor Emeritus in Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh.
Furthermore, with support from the Scottish Funding Council, Scottish expertise in particle physics from both the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh have made significant contributions to the project.
Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, said:
"Scotland has a proud and distinguished history of scientific discovery which has continues to the present day, with the high standard of our research being recognised by recent international studies.
"This is amply demonstrated by the contribution of many Scottish scientists in developing the LHC and the experiments that it will run.
"This project shows what can be achieved when countries work together to share knowledge and expertise and I am delighted that Scottish universities are key partners.
"I would like to pay particular tribute to Professor Higgs, who I met today. His studies into the physics processes that govern our universe have given rise to the exciting questions which the LHC will attempt to solve."
The LHC project includes scientists, engineers and support staff from 111 nations combining state-of-the-art science and engineering in one of the largest scientific experiments ever conducted.
A report on the performance of Scotland's research base, published in February, showed that Scottish science was cited more often than any other country, taking into account Scotland's size. The same report showed that Scotland is second in the world for the impact of its research, as measured by the average number of citations per paper over 10 years.
Particle physicists at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities are major partners in some of the LHC experiments at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland.