Friday 8 August 2008

Clear Your Diaries for the Big Bang

Here's one for the diary. On 10th September, Radio 4 is having a Big Bang Day, to mark the great experiment that will be made that day at CERN . Don't ask me what it is, but they claim it will re-create the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang and, they hope, answer all sorts of fundamental questions about the origins of the universe, etc. Anyway, Radio 4 - who, I imagine, have no more idea of what's going on than I do - is going big on it, sending bat-eared lord of the airwaves Andrew Marr (who, I imagine.... see above) to cover the 'event', whatever it is, live. There will also be a special edition of the scifi romp Torchwood (I'm not making this up) and many contributions from celebrities and comedians who claim to be great fans of particle physics. Can't wait, especially as there is, I believe, an outside chance this experiment will pull space-time inside out like a dirty sock, after which (not that there can be an after) not only will it not be, it will never have been. Radio 4 will look pretty silly then, won't it?
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8 comments:

  1. Uncle Dick Madeley8 August 2008 at 11:38

    What can I say, Nige? Disappointed. I'm a huge neutron man, myself, but I've not been asked.

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  2. Nige8 August 2008 at 11:48

    Should have got into neutrinos, Dick - that's where the smart money is...

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  3. Frank Wilson8 August 2008 at 12:05

    Is there any possibility that the experiment could have unexpected consequences, such as precipitating the end of the world?

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  4. Nige8 August 2008 at 12:35

    That's something we'll never know, Frank...

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  5. Mark8 August 2008 at 12:57

    Ah well, so they find the poor old Higgs Boson, perhaps making a heroic last stand in Andrew Marr's left ear. But ... it then emerges that the Higgs Boson is composed of yet smaller and more mysterious particles which in turn are ... . Not that I know anything about particle physics but it would be a jolly jape if the basic model turned out to be a dud.

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  6. Anonymous8 August 2008 at 13:45

    Well it would be nice to see if they manage to get an answer to all their questions, but somehow I think what they will achieve is no answer and even more questions.

    It's why Cosmology and Physics are becoming more like philosophy than science; any answer will do as long as it doesn't spell 'God'.

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  7. malty8 August 2008 at 19:22

    You just know that once they light the blue touch paper their gadget will raise a new batch of unanswered questions that will require a brand new, bigger interossiter. In the meantime The cunning Swiss will trouser the proceeds.
    Don't try speeding in Switzerland, radar everywhere.

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  8. Gordon McCabe4 April 2009 at 19:55

    All these questions, and more, are answered with crystalline clarity on Nige's Wordpress blog, Gauge Theory Mechanisms.

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