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Man Creates ATLAS Detector From Lego Bricks

Posted by Unknown on from the type-thirteen-planet dept.

First time accepted submitter Vicsun writes "It won't be smashing hadrons at speeds that are fractions of the speed of light, but it will still be a hell of a lot of fun, and could be in your hands soon. A post-doc at the Niels Bohr Institute, in Copenhagen, has recreated the ATLAS detector in Lego bricks, and is now trying to transform his design into an official LEGO product."

6 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. When will it stop? by houbou · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Official" LEGO project, geez.
    It's getting to a point where all the various types of LEGO could be an entire store unto itself!
    At this point, I'm surprised nobody has designed these bricks to have actual purpose such as mechanical, electronic and/or other type of entities that could be programmed and then assembled to do SOMETHING.
    I was once a kid and I recall my fun with LEGO, but, back then, there were just a bunch of pieces and you let your imagination go, now, it's utterly ridiculous.
    Maybe we should be building a LEGO Inflatable Doll :) Would that become an "Official" LEGO project?

    1. Re:When will it stop? by Sockatume · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The first lego "kits" appeared in 1964; there was already a motorised Lego train set by 1968. While there was certainly a "dark age" of kits with specially-designed non-transferrable parts in the 2000s, I really don't think the construction-only "golden age" of Lego you're imagining actually existed.

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      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  2. Atlas detector? by damnbunni · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a freakin' 100 ton assault 'mech.

    It's not particularly hard to detect.

  3. Currently at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory by crgrace · · Score: 4, Informative

    This Lego creation is really amazing in person. The guy did a stellar job. It's permanently located in the lobby of building 50 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (right next to the cigar box where Glenn Seaborg put the first ever sample of Plutonium). If you go on a tour there or visit an Open House, you can see it for yourself. Here's a site with a lot more details about its construction: http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~sdube/lego.html

  4. Worthless! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    "It won't be smashing protons and neutrons at speeds approaching the speed of light"

    THEN WHAT GOOD IS IT????

    It's completely useless if it doesn't help me build my death ray!

    Um, I mean my "green energy projector." At least that's what my subsidy application says...

  5. Nonfunctional... duh by Sebastopol · · Score: 3, Funny

    The whole time I'm reading the article I'm saying to myself, "WTF? How did this guy build a functional ATLAS detector so small and out of legos?"

    Functional?

    duh... //facedesk

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