September 10 marked the startup of the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland--the first attempt to circulate protons through its full 27 km circumference. International Science Grid This Week (www.isgtw.org) brings you podcasts straight from the local control centers and a report from the scene at Fermilab’s Remote Operations Center in Batavia, Illinois.
We all know about the event at CERN, but what else is happening to mark this event?
That is where LHC First Beam Events <http://www.uslhc.us/first_beam> comes in.
It has information about what several U.S. institutions, involved in the construction and startup of the LHC, are doing. Probably the most entertaining is the First Beam Pajama Party, held in Illinois at Fermilab's Remote Operations Center, where it was around 2:00 am Central Standard Time at the moment of the first beam in Geneva, Switzerland.
The sign in Fermilab's Wilson Hall said “Breakfast will be served," and compared "supersymmetry pajamas" to "dark energy pajamas," among other things.
For more on events at sister laboratories in New York, San Francisco, Arizona, Oregon and elsewhere—click here <http://www.uslhc.us/first_beam>.
Read a report from the Fermilab pajama party. <http://www.isgtw.org/?pid=1001374>