I know nothing about Physics. I don't even have a category on this blog for 'science'. I don't really know anything about Biology, Chemistry or Engineering, but I can observe everyday aspects of them and extrapolate to more complex things - I can observe differences between liquid, gas and solid, for example, and although I am hazy about genetics I can see familial similarities between related people.
I definitely know almost nothing about Physics and certainly nothing about particle physics. I have actually been to CERN, although only onto the Campus, not into the tunnel. I have no way of conceptualising a proton, and can't begin to get my head round the Higgs Bosun or the idea of anti-matter. (But I can bullshit on any subject in the world if given half a chance). I think the Large Hadron Collider thing is massive, fascinating and totally impenetrable to my anti-physics mind (is that a bit like anti-matter?)
My degree was in Social Science and my professional career bears more than a passing resemblance to Social Science. Thatch declared the difference between Science and Social Science was that Social Scientists go looking for evidence to support a hypothesis whereas Scientists observe and use the results to form a conclusion. That is way too simplistic, both disciplines do a mixture of both, depending on the context.
One of the things that I have observed in respect of LHC is the number of people in all sincerity asking 'What's it for?' My partner wants to know whether it will mean cheaper cleaner fuel. A well-known cancer expert was on the TV asking much the same question. Applied research is easy to grasp - if we research this, we'll cure cancer, or stop kids in gangs knifing each other, or shift more of our widgets on the retail market. It's more difficult to justify pure research, the pursuit of knowledge, the hunger for expanding the horizon. When people asked my Grandad where he was going he would reply "There and back to see how far it is", which is nonsensical.
Or is it? I think it's exciting that people want to go there to see what happens. Perhaps in time, something of commercial or practical value will emerge, and later generations will celebrate this day as the day we started to collide the hardrons, in much the same way we celebrate the invention of the wheel. But the practical and commercial benefits are not the point, and maybe that is a concept that is even harder to grasp than anti-matter and sub-atomic particles being accelerated by a series of electro-magnets.
Obligatory link from the BBC: 'Big Bang' experiment starts well
And the lead story in today's Mirror: Victoria Beckham shows off Peter Pan pixie cut.
Jimmy has vowed never ever to buy the Mirror again.
Picture of me probably within the circumference of the tunnel
