The Large Hadron Collider: Shedding Light on the Dark Universe by Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer. Recorded by HEAnet.

RDS Concert Hall Monday,
November 24

The world may soon have a deeper understanding than ever before about the origins and workings of the Universe thanks to the remarkable Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Built in a tunnel one kilometre beneath Switzerland’s Jura mountains, this €4 billion physics experiment will smash atoms together at colossal speeds to create energies not seen since just after the Big Bang.

Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the incoming Director-General of CERN who will take office in January 2009, will be responsible for the management of the first scientific results from the LHC which is the biggest and most complex scientific instrument ever built. Once it begins to generate data it will revolutionise our current scientific understanding, from the unbelievably small world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe. It is hoped that, as a result, we may finally get glimpses into the nature of the two mysterious substances, dark matter and dark energy.

This lecture was the 2008 Annual Statutory Public Lecture of the School of Theoretical Physics, which is part of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. It is hosted in alternate years by Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. The host for this year’s lecture, University College Dublin, kindly agreed to it being held at the RDS. The lecture was being organised in cooperation with the RDS and The Irish Times.