Tom Hanks to Switch On Large Hadron Collider

by Jordan Yerman | February 18, 2009 at 01:33 pm

4726 views | 7 Recommendations | 11 comments

When Cern turns the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) back on in September, Tom Hanks will be at the switch.

The Geneva-based particle physics lab approached Hanks due to his role in Angels & Demons, whose plot involves "antimatter" stolen from Cern.

Ok, should a catastrophic failure occur (massive explosion, or the universe collapsing in upon itself in the blink of an eye), a layman would pretty much know that something went wrong, but still, I'd want someone in a white coat who really knew what he or she was doing to be the one to flip the switch.

Hanks was approached about the move while filming his latest film Angels and Demons in which he plays a Harvard University academic investigating a plot to annihilate the Vatican with 0.25 grams of antimatter stolen from Cern.

Steve Myers, Cern's director of accelerators and technology, told Nature News that he gave the actor a tour of the laboratory on February 13 and asked him if he would return for the switch-on, to which the actor agreed.

I am sure this is an honor, but I certainly would not the job. Who flipped the switch the first time around, I wonder...?

So because he plays a scientist that makes him a good candidate to turn it on? That is so weird.

It is totally symbolic, like the ringing of the opening bell at the NYSE.

Or you could think of it as something quite mindless like Homer Simpson at the controls of a nuclear power plant.

Time to boycott Tom? After all the fears worldwide, now he agrees to help turn it back on?

Thats okay, I hear Hanks doesn't want anymore kids anyways! Still hope he is wearing a Lead Apron!

Weird and stupid. If they were going for a conceptual gesture, there would have been thousands of more interesting things to do than get Tom Hanks to promote his movie.

Science is cool already it doesnt need daftness like this to give something so important more relevance. Maybe a spread in Hello! mag next time!!!!!

"ATLAS is a particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Starting in Spring 2009, the ATLAS detector will search for new discoveries in the head-on collisions of protons of extraordinarily high energy. ATLAS will learn about the basic forces that have shaped our universe since the beginning of time and that will determine its fate. Among the possible unknowns are the origin of mass, extra dimensions of space, microscopic black holes, and evidence for dark matter candidates in the universe." http://atlas.ch/

shotleyshort has contributed a photo to this story.

bwahaha that's hilarious

Hanks opened the original space/time rip in like '88. Voltar knows this.

Argh, you idiots! First, "CERN" is an acronym and is meant to have all four letters capitalized, not "Cern". Second of all, the word "antimatter" shouldn't be in quotes, because doing so makes no sense. Antimatter is real stuff, they make anti-protons is extremely small quantaties all the time, and positrons (anti-electrons) are mass-produced in PET scanners at hospitals around the world.

Okay, next: the question of "who flipped the switch the first time around?" is irrelevant. The only problem the first time was a large coolant. Nothing serious. Besides making huge clouds of water (the cryogenic fluids (liquid nitrogen or helium) condensed the water vapor in the air), it didn't do anything at all since it was a dry run. The next test is most likely going to be a dry run, too.

Next rant: The Large Hadron Collider is absolutely harmless. Yes, it might make a black hole, but it would be smaller than an atom and would evaporate in less than a nanosecond, without sucking anything in. The machine is totally and completely harmless. There's not even any need to wear a lead apron, as Barry Artiste thinks. Any and all radiation (very small amounts, at that) will be in the form of subatomic particles that will be slowed and stopped by the detectors.

Finally: Also, no training is needed to switch on the LHC, as that's essentially all it is, flipping a switch. Most likely, they'll let him start the initial sequence (which only requires one switch), since the rest of it (including actually aiming the proton beams at each other) is a lot more complex and requires the cooperation of many people. Even so, no training is really necessary.

You people are showing unnecessary fear of what you don't understand.