Maine Film Center / Railroad Square Cinema Waterville, ME
Dr. Steve Ahlen
Professor of Physics, Boston University
Particle Fever— The People Behind the Large Hadron Collider
Program Description
Dr. Ahlen discussed his work on the Large Hadron Collider.
Presented At
Maine Film Center / Railroad Square Cinema Waterville, ME
Film Synopsis
As the Large Hadron Collider is about to be launched for the first time, physicists are on the cusp of the greatest scientific discovery of all time—or perhaps their greatest failure.
Particle Fever follows six brilliant scientists during the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, marking the start of the biggest and most expensive experiment in the history of the planet, pushing the edge of human innovation. As they seek to unravel the mysteries of the universe, 10,000 scientists from over 100 countries joined forces in pursuit of a single goal: to recreate conditions that existed just moments after the Big Bang and find the Higgs boson, potentially explaining the origin of all matter. But our heroes confront an even bigger challenge: have we reached our limit in understanding why we exist?
About the Speaker
Dr. Steve Ahlen is a professor of physics at Boston University. He was active in the installation and commissioning of high-precision tracking chambers for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (the LHC, which was completed in 2008 near Geneva, Switzerland). Dr. Ahlen received a BS and MS from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley.