CERN - Large Hadron Collider and the Very Early Universe

I've followed the progress in construction of the LHC with interest for a long while now, ever since the cancellation of the US supercollider project, and I will be following its activities with great interest. But...I wonder if in the end this period in physics will turn out to be similar to just after the turn of the previous century when the answers to some very perplexing and puzzling problems arrived from a completely unexpected corner. There seem now to be so many different questions, and it would be very unsatisfying if in the end each had an independent answer. Maybe the brute force approach of the LHC will provide those satisfyingly unified and elegant answers, maybe the days when a thinker armed only with pencil and paper could provide the answers are long gone. Still, the answers may yet come from an unexpected source.--Percy

So I guess we can assume Wagner and Sancho will be going back to court to try to get their lawsuit reopened, though I guess they better hurry. --Percy

Could someone explain the need for the "obligatory winter maintenance period"? They were up and running (minimally) for what, a few weeks at most?--Percy

I have no inside knowledge, but the current schedule for resumption is July sometime.The accident that required part of the collider to be warmed up highlighted a design flaw that is duplicated in other places in the collider. For a while they contemplated keeping the collider shut down for the rest of 2009, but in the end they decided they could effect upgrades in the rest of collider incrementally over several years.Pretty disappointing overall.--PercyEdited by Percy, : "test" => "rest"