The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) has taken a big step forward in the old quest to understand how the universe was created. It took years of work and $10 billion in funds to conceive the massive project launched on Wednesday. The work included constructing a 27 km circular tunnel deep under the surface of the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva and building the Large Hadron Collider which would fire particles into that tunnel (accelerator), in opposite directions, at nearly the speed of light, seven times the speed at which particles could be fired until now. The collision of the particles, it is hoped, will replicate conditions at the point of the Big Bang, yielding a goldmine of data for scientists to understand not only the creation of the universe but also deepen understanding of theoretical concepts like dark matter and even gravity. It is bizarre to believe that some people thought the experiment would lead to the end of the world?a Swiss court sensibly dismissed a last-minute petition to suspend the experiment. One could forgive the hardline religious types who believe that God, rather than the laws of physics created the universe?but for scientists to oppose it seems irrational to the point of deliberately wanting to resist new discovery and change. The safety of the project had been vouched for by many distinguished scientists and mathematicians, including Stephen Hawking.
The battle over this project, which has captured the attention of the world simply highlights, once again, the perennial fight between those who push for change, discovery and progress and those who stand for status-quo, stagnation and regression. Most scientific discoveries are met with scepticism and often backlash?Gallelio was imprisoned for stating that the Earth is round; some, today, question the use of genetically modified crops and foods, on the basis of dubious evidence thus slowing the use of technology that may have enormous benefits. This battle between change and status-quo extends well beyond science into other fields of human interest?particularly that of a near-science called economics. It isn?t easy to promote economic change and reform?vested interest is powerful?Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Keynes and Milton Friedman would testify to that. Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee is locked in such a battle for change in Singur, too. At any rate, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that progress takes place where the reformers win?well done Cern!
