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SCIENTISTS about to conduct one of the world's biggest physics experiments have received death threats amidst fears they could destroy the world.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a giant particle accelerator built by European science organisation CERN, will start its atom-smashing activities tomorrow in an experiment it is hoped will uncover some of the secrets of the Big Bang.
When the accelerator is fired up, two parallel beams of particles will be blasted around the underground ring in opposite directions.
At four locations on the circuit, superconducting magnets will bend the beams so that groups of protons smash into each other in a giant chamber rigged with equipment to record the collisions and their aftermath.
By doing this the LHC team hopes to recreate conditions similar to the Big Bang and find answers to some of the biggest questions in physics, such as how to explain mass, gravity and dark matter.
Despite the expected scientific benefits, some fear the experiment could create black holes that will eventually swallow the Earth. German chemist Professor Otto Rossler even led a last-ditch legal attempt to stop the experiment.
While recent studies have disproved the doomsday scenario, CERN scientists have reportedly received death threats and pleas to stop the experiment.
Professor Brian Cox of Manchester University told the British Telegraph newspaper that LHC scientists had been receiving threatening emails and phone calls demanding that the experiment be halted.
But Prof Cox, ex-keyboardist for 1980's pop group D:REAM, dismissed the hysteria in rock-star style.
"Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a t---," he said.
The LHC experiment will be several times more powerful than anything else of its kind.
Scientists expect to find the theoretical Higgs-Boson Particle, or the God Particle, and gain a better understanding of things like antimatter, parallel universes and dark matter.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a giant particle accelerator built by European science organisation CERN, will start its atom-smashing activities tomorrow in an experiment it is hoped will uncover some of the secrets of the Big Bang.
When the accelerator is fired up, two parallel beams of particles will be blasted around the underground ring in opposite directions.
At four locations on the circuit, superconducting magnets will bend the beams so that groups of protons smash into each other in a giant chamber rigged with equipment to record the collisions and their aftermath.
By doing this the LHC team hopes to recreate conditions similar to the Big Bang and find answers to some of the biggest questions in physics, such as how to explain mass, gravity and dark matter.
Despite the expected scientific benefits, some fear the experiment could create black holes that will eventually swallow the Earth. German chemist Professor Otto Rossler even led a last-ditch legal attempt to stop the experiment.
While recent studies have disproved the doomsday scenario, CERN scientists have reportedly received death threats and pleas to stop the experiment.
Professor Brian Cox of Manchester University told the British Telegraph newspaper that LHC scientists had been receiving threatening emails and phone calls demanding that the experiment be halted.
But Prof Cox, ex-keyboardist for 1980's pop group D:REAM, dismissed the hysteria in rock-star style.
"Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a t---," he said.
The LHC experiment will be several times more powerful than anything else of its kind.
Scientists expect to find the theoretical Higgs-Boson Particle, or the God Particle, and gain a better understanding of things like antimatter, parallel universes and dark matter.