Sabarish

After all the LHC updates and expectations, the folks at CERN went through a few problems, starting with a hacking attempt and then an incident with Helium leaking into the tunnel. They have now paused all tests and will be restarting in 2009 after fixing the faults.

Closer to home, the Indian Space Research Organisation is planning their ambitious mission to the Moon! Chandrayaan – 1 is India’s first such mission to the moon and the countdown. This is a very proud time for all of us in India and I wish the team all the very best! :)
Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan and http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/

There are also some interesting WordPress updates. Apparently now we can host WordPress and other PHP Web applications in IIS!

And finally I am really looking forward to WordPress 2.7. The previews of the interface looks awesome!

The first beam in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN was successfully steered around the full 27 kilometres of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator at 10h28 on the morning of 10th September. This historic event marks a key moment in the transition from over two decades of preparation to a new era of scientific discovery. Read on here

India had quite a significant role to play in this experiment contributing both to the construction of the equipment itself and also by way of manpower (Indian teams are participating in some of the different experiments.)

Big Bang test: India’s flag flies high at CERN

Indian jacks support world’s biggest accelerator at CERN

It is supposed to be the first time India is contributing so significantly to an international scientific program and is just great to hear. This should pave the way for India being more involved with more experiments around the world and for the world to include India in their experiments as partners.

Further to my earlier post on the Large Hadron Collider, CERN is all set to turn on the world’s biggest machine this coming Wednesday, the 10th of September.

The countdown and other information on the launch can be read here, where CERN welcomes the first beam!

In the meantime – the scientists behind LHC are getting death threats and legal cases from doomsdayers and other scientists who believe the experiment will go out of hand and cause destruction to the planet. But here is why the world won’t end on 10th September.

Kate McAlpine who works at CERN has come up with a nice rap that tries to explain what the LHC is going to do and also has some exclusive footage of the machine and other areas. Enjoy! :)

Click here for the direct video link if you are unable to view the above video.