CERN IT boss: What we do is not really that special

When the head of infrastructure services at CERN tells you that he has come to the conclusion that there’s nothing intrinsically “special” about the systems at the multi-billion atom-smasher, you naturally want to check you’ve heard correctly. After all, when we sat down with Tim Bell at the OpenStack Summit in Paris recently …

[Osgard Leach]

The so called God particle.

So called by the Daily Mail. It is not, absolutely not, and should never be, called the God particle by serious commentators. Or the Register. Please.

[Destroy All Monsters]

Re: The so called God particle.

"serious commentators or the Register".

Oh my God Particle!!

[phuzz]

Re: The so called God particle.

There was an "Oh my god" particle, it was a proton (probably), detected in 1991, screaming into our atmosphere at close to the speed of light. As far as I know, no one is sure yet what produced it, but other particles of a similar energy have been observed since.

(PS, the name "god particle" for the Higgs was coined by a physicist, not the DM)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The so called God particle.

Sure the original coining was the "Goddam particle"?

But yes, the Daily Mail could never have coined such a usage because:

(a) the Editor is a Scottish presbyterian who will not stomach blasphemy and

(b) All anybody at the Mail knows about CERN is that it is spending our money that could be better spent repatriating foreigners.

[Alan Brown]

Re: The so called God particle.

"PS, the name "god particle" for the Higgs was coined by a physicist, not the DM"

IIRC, it was originally "the goddamned particle" until the usual PC objections got raised.

[returnmyjedi]

He sounds a bit glum. A case of the Higgs Boson Blues, perhaps?

[Message From A Self-Destructing Turnip]

Spent too much time in the 'Cave'.

[IHateWearingATie]

It should ALWAYS be called the God Particle...

... as it really annoys particle physicists :)

Just as you should always tell chemists they are glorified cooks, biologists that its all just plumbing in the end, and management consultants like me that we are all overpaid, know-it-all, useless bastards :)

[Destroy All Monsters]

Re: It should ALWAYS be called the God Particle...

We shall further infuriate the Good Congregation and term this the "Jehova Particle".

[James Haley 2]

Candidate for the expat series

El Reg should find a suitable CERN IT person for the weekend expat series.

[Destroy All Monsters]

While perusing the LHC timeline of operations, this data point was detected:

The size of the LHC constitutes an exceptional engineering challenge with unique operational issues on account of the amount of energy stored in the magnets and the beams. While operating, the total energy stored in the magnets is 10 GJ (2,400 kilograms of TNT) and the total energy carried by the two beams reaches 724 MJ (173 kilograms of TNT).

This is pretty boss!

[roger stillick]

CERN IT BOSS= it is that special...

CERN Collider has defaulted to the Worlds Premier MUON Plasma Physics site...making IT there critical to CERN Site Operation- there is simply no other, anywhere... The USA folks have deferred to this site, removed their Equipment and repurposed plant to other fields that are now just computer simulations and really cry for a physical test run on actuall physical lab stuff... YUM.

USA has the National Ignition Facility doing similar work in a different area of Physics... IT work there is crutial to allowing that facility to exist.

IMHO= Proper instrumentation of test runs, Adequate Computer power, and complete computer simulation of Eq being designed is crutial in the Scientific Method being applied sucessfully to exploration of new areas in Science... NO MORE= WAGS... NO MORE= Looks Right... NO MORE= Climb in, buckle-up, Light the fire, and if you can land it we'll figure out how to make it go faster (all a really big WAG)...

And the IT guys get to keep it intact and on track...highly needed if any real Scientific exploration gets to be done...RS.