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Bad Math Causes Explosion at CERN Collider
javipas writes "The Large Hadron Collider at the CERN has suffered a big explosion deep inside that has caused a leak of hellium gas and the quick evacuation of everyone working there. The reason: a mathematical mistake that affected the design of the giant superconductive magnets made by Fermilab. Now the company will have to repair and upgrade the 24 magnets that are installed on the 27 km. circunference of one of the most important research centers on Earth." This story might seem strangely familiar to you.
I for one, welcome our new accidental parallel universe overlords...
Forgot to carry the one. Sorry.
due to the helium leak everyone in the vicinity of the lab will be talking in very humorous high pitched voices for at least a week!
What's so bad about that?
Others have detailed what's so bad about this, but it is worth pointing out that experimental science is in general a dangerous enterprise.
Experimental physicists routinely handle dangerous materials (a colleague once worked on a project where he was using hydrofluoric acid, which has to be one of the nastiest substances known.) We also deal with pressure vessels (another colleague working on high pressure proportional counters considered explosions a routine part of his testing protocol). We deal with high voltage sources that are the kind of thing you might find connected to an electric chair in less civilized countries. And the list goes on...
The number of things that can go wrong with any new machine is large, and we are very fortunate that relatively few experimentalists are killed each year from the risks they expose themselves to in the name of greater knowledge.
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.