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Magnet Meltdown At The Large Hadron Collider Magnets cooled to extremely low temperatures are an essential element of the massive particle accelerator. Some of these magnets may have overheated last week, causing the Collider to fail its preliminary tests — possibly delaying the project by a year.

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Magnet Meltdown At The Large Hadron Collider

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Magnet Meltdown At The Large Hadron Collider

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CERN Director General Robert Aymar said the setback to the particle accelerator was "undoubtedly a psychological blow." Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP/Getty Images

CERN Director General Robert Aymar said the setback to the particle accelerator was "undoubtedly a psychological blow."

Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP/Getty Images

Magnets cooled to extremely low temperatures are an essential element of the massive particle accelerator. Some of these magnets may have overheated last week, causing the Collider to fail its preliminary tests — possibly delaying the project by a year.

Dan Hooper, an associate scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, explains what happened to the LHC, and what physicists are doing to fix it.

Nature's Blueprint
Nature's Blueprint

Supersymmetry and the Search for a Unified Theory of Matter and Force

by Dan Hooper

Hardcover, 230 pages |

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Nature's Blueprint
Subtitle
Supersymmetry and the Search for a Unified Theory of Matter and Force
Author
Dan Hooper

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