Scientists successfully fired the first beam of protons around a vast underground tunnel below the Swiss-French border on Wednesday, in a test run of a multibillion-dollar experiment to shed light on the origins of the universe.

During the CERN  test, a beam of protons completed a clockwise lap of the accelerator ring, in an extreme vacuum cooled by liquid helium. LHC project leader, Lyn Evans, called the test run a "fantastic moment" hailing a new era in scientists' understanding of the universe.

Proof of the pudding however comes later, when subatomic particles will be sent round the accelerator ring in opposite directions at almost the speed of light, guided by a powerful magnetic field produced by superconductor magnets, to collide in front of huge particle detectors.

Many hope the experiment will reveal the Higgs boson, nicknamed the "God particle," a concept hypothesised by one school of scientist. Others  in the camp of British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking  who told the BBC  "think it will be much more exciting if we don't find the Higgs. That will show something is wrong, and we need to think again. I have a bet of $100 that we won't find the Higgs."

The international LHC project has involved more than 2,000 physicists from hundreds of universities and labs  in 34 countries since 1984.

ITER is just as awesome
Fusion for Energy (F4E) with the support of the European Commission, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and ITER Organisation have successfully tested a prototype superconductor for the ITER Poloidal Field coils, (right) which is made of Niobium(Nb)-Titanium(Ti) reaching a stable operation at 52kA in a magnetic field of 6.4Tesla. Poloidal Field coils will be used to maintain the plasma equilibrium and shape inside the ITER Tokamak reactor.

“This is a breakthrough for the fusion community. We have successfully tested and demonstrated a key technology milestone which is integral to the success of ITER. Based on these achievements, Europe, Russia and China will proceed with the procurement of the ITER Poloidal Field conductor” said Fusion for Energy director, Didier Gambier. (Photo courtesy JAEA The Main PF Coil Winding)

The test coil with an outer diameter of 1.5 m and weighing 6 tons was the product of an international collaboration between Russia, Europe and Japan. Russia produced the 0.73-mm diameter Nb-Ti superconducting strands,  bundled them into a cable consisting of 1,440 strands. Europe assembled the cable into a steel jacket, to make the final conductor and was also responsible for winding the conductor, insulating the turns and bonding them together to form a coil.

Japan was in charge of testing the coil at the JAEA site in Naka because of its world class expertise with a team of experts from the ITER Organisation, Europe, Japan, Russia and the US. The results gave scientists complete confidence that this conductor would fulfill the extremely demanding performance required for ITER.

(Left. Coil insertion Courtesy Tesla Engineering and EFDA The PF Coil was installed in Central Solenoid Model Coil (CSMC) TEST facility in Naka, Japan, in January 2008. The cooldown started May 2008, the coils were tested July-Aug 2008)

ITER will be the world's largest experimental fusion facility to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power. Fusion is the process which powers the sun and the stars. When light atomic nuclei fuse together to form heavier ones, a large amount of energy is released.

Fusion research is aims at developing prototype fusion power plants that are safe, environmentally responsible and economically viable for abundant fuel resources.

Europe will contribute almost half of the costs of its construction, while the other six members to this joint international venture (China, India, Japan,  Republic of Korea, Russia and the US), will contribute equally to the rest.
The site of the ITER project is at Cadarache, France.

Sources:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com
http://fusionforenergy.europa.eu/
http://www.iter.org/

ITER stories: http://computescotland.com//pulling-iter-simulations-together-and-formulating-control-instrumentattion-1139.php
http://computescotland.com//iter-launches-first-ever-procurement-1112.php