September 28, 2008 11:55 AM
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A Trip Inside The "Big Bang Machine"
This is all being conducted under the auspices of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, otherwise known as CERN. But more than 80 countries are contributing money, technology or scientists to the project. There have been Israelis and Palestinians, Indians and Pakistanis, Iranians and Americans working on the collider, and everyone will share in the scientific results.
Asked if he's concerned the collider won't work when it's turned on, James Gillies, CERN's chief spokesman, tells Kroft, "I think we can be pretty confident that it's gonna work. Because everything you can possibly test along the way has been tested."
Gillies told 60 Minutes the kind of equipment malfunctions and delays the project is experiencing now are not uncommon and to be expected. "It's a very complex machine. Nothing like it's been done before. It's its own prototype in some sense," Gillies says.
"All of this is being done to satisfy scientific curiosity?" Kroft asks
"I would say it's all being done to satisfy human curiosity," Gillies replies.
"But are there practical things that are likely to come out of it?" Kroft asks.
"I'm pretty sure there will be in the long-term. I mean, the history of science shows us that the big advances in human technology come about through curiosity-driven research," Gillies says.
"Can you give me an example of something that was created here for research purposes and changed the world?" Kroft asks.
"Yeah. Well, the best-known one is the world wide web."
The system you use everyday to click on links and move from one Internet site to another was invented at CERN to help scientists do research. Because CERN has been required to share its scientific discoveries, the Web was given to the world for free. It has helped transform society, and private industry has made billions off of it. And scientists at CERN anticipate similar results from the collider. When they began planning it, the technology to build it didn't exist. It had to be developed by companies and laboratories in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
"We, in doing these experiments, do push the technologies to the limit. And so, you know, industry eats this stuff up. They say, 'Oh, yeah, here's something. Okay, so we can make this faster. We know how to do this. Okay, so now we can market it.' And that's what's happened," Stanek says.
One of the things scientists are hoping to find with the help of the collider is called the "Higgs" particle. It is named after Peter Higgs, a professor in Scotland. Four decades ago, he theorized that there must be something in the universe that we can't see that gives things weight or substance. Earlier this year, he got a look at the first machine powerful enough to test whether he was right.
The Higgs particle is sometimes called the "God particle." Asked why that is, Gillies tells Kroft, "It's called that because it plays a very, very important role. In giving mass to the other particles, it allows solid structures, solid things, you, me, tables, chairs to exist. Without it, we couldn't."
"If this particle exists, we should be able to definitively see it. And if it doesn't exist, then this model that we keep confirming over the last 30 years has a big hole in it," says scientist Steve Nahn.
"But there's gonna be an explanation one way or the other?" Kroft asks.
"Yes," Nahn says. "When you disprove a theory…usually, more theories come to take it's place."
Copyright 2008 CBS. All rights reserved. Asked if he's concerned the collider won't work when it's turned on, James Gillies, CERN's chief spokesman, tells Kroft, "I think we can be pretty confident that it's gonna work. Because everything you can possibly test along the way has been tested."
Gillies told 60 Minutes the kind of equipment malfunctions and delays the project is experiencing now are not uncommon and to be expected. "It's a very complex machine. Nothing like it's been done before. It's its own prototype in some sense," Gillies says.
"All of this is being done to satisfy scientific curiosity?" Kroft asks
"I would say it's all being done to satisfy human curiosity," Gillies replies.
"But are there practical things that are likely to come out of it?" Kroft asks.
"I'm pretty sure there will be in the long-term. I mean, the history of science shows us that the big advances in human technology come about through curiosity-driven research," Gillies says.
"Can you give me an example of something that was created here for research purposes and changed the world?" Kroft asks.
"Yeah. Well, the best-known one is the world wide web."
The system you use everyday to click on links and move from one Internet site to another was invented at CERN to help scientists do research. Because CERN has been required to share its scientific discoveries, the Web was given to the world for free. It has helped transform society, and private industry has made billions off of it. And scientists at CERN anticipate similar results from the collider. When they began planning it, the technology to build it didn't exist. It had to be developed by companies and laboratories in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
"We, in doing these experiments, do push the technologies to the limit. And so, you know, industry eats this stuff up. They say, 'Oh, yeah, here's something. Okay, so we can make this faster. We know how to do this. Okay, so now we can market it.' And that's what's happened," Stanek says.
One of the things scientists are hoping to find with the help of the collider is called the "Higgs" particle. It is named after Peter Higgs, a professor in Scotland. Four decades ago, he theorized that there must be something in the universe that we can't see that gives things weight or substance. Earlier this year, he got a look at the first machine powerful enough to test whether he was right.
The Higgs particle is sometimes called the "God particle." Asked why that is, Gillies tells Kroft, "It's called that because it plays a very, very important role. In giving mass to the other particles, it allows solid structures, solid things, you, me, tables, chairs to exist. Without it, we couldn't."
"If this particle exists, we should be able to definitively see it. And if it doesn't exist, then this model that we keep confirming over the last 30 years has a big hole in it," says scientist Steve Nahn.
"But there's gonna be an explanation one way or the other?" Kroft asks.
"Yes," Nahn says. "When you disprove a theory…usually, more theories come to take it's place."
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