Latest news with #EuropeanOrganisationforNuclearResearch
RTÉ News
15-07-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Government approves final steps for Ireland to join CERN
The Government has approved the final steps for Ireland to become an associate member of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. Following a mandatory waiting period, the membership is expected to begin officially in October. CERN is an intergovernmental organisation that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world on the Franco-Swiss border, just outside Geneva. The main focus of activity in CERN is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27km underground ring in which protons are accelerated and collide with one another. Associate membership will allow Ireland's researchers to participate in CERN's scientific programmes and will make Irish citizens eligible for staff positions and fellowships at CERN. Membership will also allow Ireland's businesses to compete in CERN procurement programmes. Associate membership is expected to cost around €1.9 million a year, for an initial period of five years. Following today's Cabinet decision, the Taoiseach signed a Government Order to enable the State to meet its obligations under CERN membership. The remaining steps are now for Ireland to notify the Director-General of CERN that the internal approval procedures for the Associate Membership Agreement are complete, and to deposit an Instrument of Accession to the CERN Protocol on Privileges and Immunities with UNESCO. "Associate Membership of CERN will demonstrate Ireland's commitment to science and reaffirm our reputation as a centre for scientific investment," said Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Harris. Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless said today's Cabinet approval is a milestone which authorises the final legal steps. "My Department will establish an expert advisory group in the coming months to guide our national approach to CERN membership," Mr Lawless said. "This group will work with my Department to maximise benefits for both Ireland and CERN," he added.
India.com
27-05-2025
- Science
- India.com
Even Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani combined wealth cannot buy one gram of antimatter..., its cost is...
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research has created the first safe container for the world's most expensive substance, antimatter. Antimatter Transport Container: For the first time, scientists of the European Nuclear Research Organization (CERN) have succeeded in making a container for the transport of antimatter. It is only two meters long but is the most unique. The world's most expensive substance, antimatter (CERN antimatter container), can be transported in it. The price of one ounce (about 28.35 grams) of antimatter is about Rs 51 lakh 87 thousand 500 crore. It is so expensive that even one gram of antimatter cannot be purchased with the entire wealth of India's two richest people Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. Container moved 4 kms successfully Scientists say that the construction of the container will accelerate the study of antimatter. This can help solve the mysteries of the universe. According to a report published in the Nature journal, the container was successfully driven for four kilometers during the test. Through this, antimatter will be sent from CERN's Geneva laboratory to various countries. It will begin by sending antimatter to a university in Germany, which is 800 kilometers away from Geneva. Antimatter is used in spacecraft and aircraft Everything in the molecule of antimatter is exactly opposite to that of other substances. Normal molecules have positively charged nuclei and negatively charged electrons. Antimatter molecules have negatively charged nuclei and positively charged electrons. It is a kind of fuel, which is used in spacecraft and airplanes. It is not found anywhere near the Earth or its atmosphere. It is prepared in the lab. Till now only 10 nanograms of antimatter has been made in the world. It is also used to make nuclear weapons. This is a very impressive scientific advancement It is an extremely impressive scientific breakthrough that CERN has developed a container for the safe transport of such a valuable and fragile material, antimatter. This breakthrough will not only open up new possibilities in physics and cosmology, but will also provide the international scientific community with vital resources for future research. The inflation of antimatter and the technologies developed to protect it are amazing achievements of science, showing that there are no limits to human curiosity and innovation. Detailed report on extensive testing to come A detailed report on the practical use of this container and its extensive tests will be forthcoming, which will make it clear whether this technology will be able to make the transportation and storage of antimatter practical on a large scale. Apart from this, we will also have a special discussion with CERN scientists on the design and security measures of this container, so that we can know in which areas this technology can be used in the future. Antimatter can bring revolutionary changes in areas like space travel This step towards studying and safely transporting antimatter could revolutionise many important areas such as space travel, energy production and nuclear weapons control. Also, it could serve as a new type of fuel for humanity, making it possible to access the deep mysteries of space. Apart from this, the technology of this container could also become an ideal model for transporting delicate and dangerous substances in the future.
NDTV
10-05-2025
- Science
- NDTV
Alchemist's Dream Come True: Scientists Create Gold From Lead
In a remarkable scientific achievement, physicists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, known as CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), have successfully transformed lead into gold, albeit momentarily. During high-energy collisions of lead nuclei, researchers observed the formation of gold nuclei, realizing an age-old alchemical aspiration through modern physics. These experiments, conducted as part of the ALICE project, provide valuable insights into the fundamental forces and conditions present shortly after the Big Bang. In a paper published in Physical Review Journals, the ALICE collaboration reports measurements that quantify the transmutation of lead into gold in CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). According to a release by CERN, transforming the base metal lead into the precious metal gold was a dream of mediaeval alchemists. This long-standing quest, known as chrysopoeia, may have been motivated by the observation that dull grey, relatively abundant lead is of a similar density to gold, which has long been coveted for its beautiful colour and rarity. It was only much later that it became clear that lead and gold are distinct chemical elements and that chemical methods are powerless to transmute one into the other. With the dawn of nuclear physics in the 20th century, it was discovered that heavy elements could transform into others, either naturally, by radioactive decay, or in the laboratory, under a bombardment of neutrons or protons. Though gold has been artificially produced in this way before, the ALICE collaboration has now measured the transmutation of lead into gold by a new mechanism involving near-miss collisions between lead nuclei at the LHC.
RTÉ News
08-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Ireland signs associate membership agreement to join CERN
Ireland has signed an associate membership agreement to join the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). CERN is an intergovernmental organisation that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world on the Franco-Swiss border, just outside Geneva. The main focus of activity in CERN is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27km underground ring in which protons are accelerated and collided into one another. Associate membership will allow Ireland's researchers to participate in CERN's scientific programmes and will make Irish citizens eligible for staff positions and fellowships at CERN. Membership will also allow Ireland's businesses to compete in CERN procurement programmes. Associate membership is expected to cost around €1.9 million a year, for an initial period of five years. Ireland applied for associate membership in November 2023. Subject to funding requirements and Dáil approval, it is expected that Ireland will complete the accession process this year. Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless visited CERN today to sign the membership agreement. "This represents the culmination of significant work by the Government and CERN, building on the excellence of the Irish physics community," Mr Lawless said. "As an associate member of one of the world's most significant research organisations, Ireland will have an opportunity to gain access to excellent research, innovation, collaboration and industry contracts. "I look forward to working with my colleagues in Government and stakeholders over the coming period to finalise Ireland's associate membership status and maximise the opportunities presented by the process," he added.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists reveal plan for even bigger particle collider to smash atoms
Scientists at the world's largest atom smasher have released a blueprint for a much bigger successor that could help solve some of the remaining enigmas of physics. The plans for the Future Circular Collider: a nearly 57-mile loop along the French-Swiss border and even below Lake Geneva, published late on Monday put the finishing details on a project roughly a decade in the making at Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. The study lays out features like the proposed path, environmental impact, scientific ambitions and cost of the project. Independent experts will take a look before Cern's two-dozen member countries – all European except for Israel – decide in 2028 whether to go forward, starting in the mid-2040s at a cost of some 14 billion Swiss francs (about £12.5 billion). Cern officials have touted the promise of scientific discoveries that could drive innovation in areas like cryogenics, superconducting magnets and vacuum technologies that could benefit humankind. Outside experts pointed to the promise of learning more about the Higgs boson, the elusive particle that helped explain how matter formed after the Big Bang. 'This set of reports represents an important milestone in the process, but a full sense of the likelihood of it being brought to fruition will only be known through careful studies by scientists, engineers and others, including politicians who must make difficult decisions at time when uncertainty rules the day,' said Dave Toback, a professor of physics and astronomy at Texas A&M University, in an email. The new collider 'provides and exciting opportunity for the particle physics community, and indeed all of physics, on the world stage,' said Prof Toback, who was not affiliated with the study, and who worked for years at the Fermilab Tevatron collider in the United States that was shut down in 2011. For roughly a decade, top minds at Cern have been cooking up plans for a successor to the Large Hadron Collider, a network of magnets that accelerate particles through a 17-mile underground tunnel and slams them together at velocities approaching the speed of light. Work at the particle collider confirmed in 2013 the existence of the Higgs boson – the central piece in a puzzle known as the standard model that helps explains some fundamental forces in the universe. Cern scientists, engineers and partners behind the study considered at least 100 different scenarios for the new collider before coming up with the proposed circumference at an average depth of 200 metres. The tunnel would be about five metres in diameter, Cern said. 'Ultimately what we would like to do is a collider which will come up with 10 times more energy than what we have today,' said Arnaud Marsollier, a CERN spokesman. 'When you have more energy, then you can create particles that are heavier.' A bigger collider would also offer greater precision to help plumb particularities of the Higgs boson, which 'we have kind of a blurry image of' now, he added.
