Well - who knows - but it certainly is the planned date of the first BEAM ON - at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research - or CERN - in Geneva, Switzerland.
A worker inside the LHC tunnel
(Image courtesy of CERN)
For the first time, the giant 27 km circular particle collider (LHC - Large Hadron Collider) will fire up - smashing sub-atomic particles into each other at speeds approaching the speed of light - in an attempt to re-create a mini version of events that happened in the first few billionths, of the very first second of time - a fraction after the Big Bang.
But did you know that the very first proposal for the World Wide Web (WWW) was made at CERN? Well I certainly didn't until I started browsing their fascinating website.
Enter the extraordinary world of Quarks, Gravitons, Bosons - and the search for the Higgs Particle (or Higgs boson) - already postulated theoretically as a contender for the particle responsible for the attribute of mass - at the moment, being one of the key questions asked by Quantum physicists.
Dark matter, string theory? No problem - just step this way.
There have been scary rumours, completely disproved by recent thorough safety evaluations - that perhaps the first collision might create a real black hole - that possibly the scientists there will unwittingly bring about the destruction of planet earth.
There have been amusing articles written suggesting that perhaps a warp in the fabric of time could permit time travellers from the future to appear.
We'll all find out - on Wednesday (although no actual collisions are scheduled for a while.)
There is a bit of a dilemma at the moment - Albert Einstein's famous theory of General Relativity & the formula E=MC2 seem to be consistent and satisfactory at the Macro level of the universe - but not on the Micro level - the Quantum level.
This is not a pleasing state of affairs - A Theory of Everything - (if there were one - the Holy Grail for science at the moment) would unify the apparant inconsistencies between the Standard Model (being the name given to the current theory on particle interaction) and Einstein's GR theory.
(Click for interview - Robert Aymar - Director General of CERN)
Wednesday 10th September 2008 - sees the start of the most cutting-edge scientific experiments into all these questions - and no doubt, many more.
(Image courtesy CERN)
An auspicious example of international collaboration - Milestones - will give you a detailed impression of the scale of the undertaking & the enormous engineering and scientific challenges presented in the building of the LHC.
I wish them all the very best of inspiration and good fortune over at CERN.
It's massive - it's exciting - it's on the frontier of physics right now.
You can sign up for an account with them - keep in touch.
Entertaining & educational - the "Large Hadron RAP."
A humorous side? Gravitons, Protons, Bosons . . .
It was enlightening for me to learn that forces such as gravity and possibly properties like mass have their origins in sub-atomic particles - various combinations and permutations of Quarks.
It brings many interesting questions to my mind about other fundamental properties, other attributes - such as intelligence, willpower, consciousness - could there actually be sub-atomic particles responsible for these?
Which led me to imagine an alphabet of potential discoveries . . .
A list of new sub-atomic particles discovered at CERN.
The Amazon - the particle responsible for tall people.
The Baron - the particle responsible for blue blood.
The Chameleon - the particle responsible for colour.
The Dependon - the particle responsible for reliability.
The Eggon - the particle responsible for encouragement.
The Futon - the particle responsible for insomnia.
The Geton - the particle responsible for friendship.
The Hangon - the particle responsible for . . . delay.
The Iron - the particle responsible for decrease.
The Jettison - the particle responsible for rubbish.
The Kettleon - the particle responsible for tea.
The Longjon - the particle responsible for heat.
The Marathon - the particle responsible for d i s t a n c e.
The Napoleon - the particle responsible for short people.
The Onandon - the particle responsible for boredom.
The Presson - the particle responsible for determination.
The Question - the particle responsible for curiosity.
The Reason - the particle responsible for everything.
The Strapon - the particle responsible for gratification.
The Tampon - the particle responsible for blockages.
The Upon - the particle responsible for elevation.
The Viagron - the particle responsible for rigidity.
The What'son - the particle responsible for the radio times.
The Xylophon - the particle responsible for fossils.
The You'reon - the particle responsible for stagefright.
The Zion - the particle responsible for the middle east crisis.
(I would love you to comment, with your own suggestions . . .)
A very useful GLOSSARY
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