Who would have thought I would be excitedly counting down the days until millions of atomic particles collide in a 16.5m long tunnel under the Swiss/French border near Geneva. Until last year I had never even heard of the 38,000 tonne Large Hadron Collider, let alone the Higgs boson (or God) particle.
Yet here I am – the dunce who had to do General Science at O’ level as she was useless at physics and chemistry (I like to think it is because I was artistic instead) – holding my breath at what wonders the multi billion pound experiment will reveal when the proton beam is sent through the collider on Wednesday September 10th.
Will we discover the origin of mass and identify dark matter? Will we get a greater understanding of the beginning of the Universe? Will we end up swallowed by a black hole?
I seriously doubt the latter but the fact is, until I started reading about the LHC, I would barely have been able to articulate what a black hole was. And of course, this is precisely the same with so many people – especially children. Blame teaching methods, under-funding of science, the fact French teachers were so much more appealing in my day than those who taught science - whatever the reason, science has not been sexy.
Yet as the LHC shows, it is. Not only that, but this research project shows everything that is great about working today. Scientists, engineers and support staff from 111 nations are working together. Here is an example of talent, project management, innovation, global collaboration, skills, leadership, networking, technology – everything we talk about in HR is summed up in this one project.
Science unsexy? I say bring on the next phase, the International Linear Collider.
