Sunday, 7 April
 |
| Jessicca's Holiday Visit |
They are shutting down CERN
until 2015 for repairs. The LHC, Large
Hadron Collider, is the largest and most powerful of the world’s particle
accelerators. The Higgs boson, the
subatomic particle believed responsible for holding matter together, was first
isolated and identified through research at CERN . It is thought to be one of a category that
includes possibly up to six different subatomic particles responsible for the
formation of physical matter and the phenomenon of gravity. The LHC is providing the most extraordinary
clues to the nature of existence itself and the technology needed to provide
this information has to be invented as it is employed. Consequently equipment sometimes doesn’t work
as intended. The LHC has been operating
at half its intended power because of problems in its radical design. The facility is being shut down to rectify
these issues. Once it returns online two
years from now it should have the power to further break apart subatomic matter
in an effort to further determine the nature of physical existence.
Over our heads, circling the earth, a two billion dollar
experiment on the International Space Station may have detected the first
tangible evidence of what is called dark matter. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, AMS ,
is a particle physics machine designed to provide scientists some indication as
to the nature of this mysterious matter that makes up nearly 27% of the known
universe. Another force in the universe
is termed dark energy and it accounts for over 68% of the mass/energy density
of the Universe. That means we can
detect with our scientific equipment only about 5% of what is known to be
physical reality. We know something of
the effect these unidentified forces have on the shape and movement of galaxies
but we have yet to discover what it is they are. It is like Mendel seeing the evidence of
inherited traits in peas but not having any knowledge of molecular DNA . It is now apparent to scientists that the
Periodic Table of atoms is, in fact, only the tip of the iceberg.
The AMS particle device
took 18 years to develop. For many of
the people working on this experiment that represents a good portion of one’s
career. Watching it launch on the tip of
a rocket makes for an excruciating case of nerves. A single malfunction and years of dedication
are destroyed in an instant. It has
happened before. If the venture
accomplishes its mission a very small piece of information will be added to our
scientific knowledge. Human knowledge,
civilization itself, is built in small increments by individuals committed to
working in a disciplined, pain-staking fashion.
Society always reflects the efforts of many lives, of individual
sacrifice and ingenuity. The best of our
efforts as people, you and I, is what drives humanity forward. Some of us work daily with test tubes, others
work on cars. Some of us gather
information from books. Some of us are
fascinated by the people around us and find what it is we need to know by
communicating directly with others. Some
people find meaning in paint or through expression in the written word. Others of us are motivated to just live fully
through what it is we experience in our daily lives. We pass on to others who it is we are through
the display of our character, the theater of our example as one life
well-lived.
Life isn't a carefree drive down a pleasant highway. Were it otherwise what value would there be
for having strong character traits such as humility, determination and acts of
selfless devotion? Simply enjoying ourselves
is all the reward we might ever need in a life free from want. Can one born into such a situation be
considered lucky? I doubt it. People sheltered from adversity and handed
most everything their heart desires still find ways to complicate their lives
to the point of misery. We learn from
example that endless self-indulgence is a stifling bore. We do poorly when we fail to exercise our
brain, our muscles and our humanity. The
exclamation points of our lives are best served infrequently. It’s a fact!
It gets tedious! Nothing is
special! How hopeless it seems to always
have what you want! It drives you
crazy! You quickly see what I mean! Help!
No comments:
Post a Comment