MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) - The...
of protons round the vast underground circular device, the entire ring must be cooled by liquid helium to minus 271 degrees Celsius, just two degrees above absolute zero.By colliding particles in front of immensely powerful detectors, scientists hope to detect the Higgs boson, nicknamed the "God particle," which was hypothesized in the 1960s to explain how particles acquire mass. Discovering the particle could explain how matter appeared in the split-second after the Big Bang.
The international LHC project has involved more than 2,000 physicists from hundreds of universities and laboratories in 34 countries since 1984. Over 700 Russian physicists from 12 research institutes have taken part.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said in August that the cost of repairing the LHC, which has been out of operation since last September, will be $37.7 million.
The construction of the collider took around 20 years and cost $4.9 billion.