cern

First-ever Web site is brought back to life

A quick history lesson for readers.

In 1989, British physicist Tim Berners-Lee invented what would be called the "World Wide Web." The first trials were held in December 1990 at the laboratories of CERN, the major research laboratory in Geneva that's better known today as the home of the Large Hadron Collider.

On April 30, 1993, CERN published a statement -- on the Web, no less! -- that made the technology behind the World Wide Web available on a royalty-free basis. (Specifically, this was the software required to run a Web server, a basic browser, and a library of code.)

And thus the modern public Web was born, at info.cern.ch. … Read more

Twenty years on, the Web faces new openness challenges

Two decades ago today, the European particle accelerator called CERN gave birth to what's known as the open Web -- a technology that anyone can build without paying licensing or royalty fees.

But as the Web has grown ever more popular and sophisticated, proprietary technology poses a challenge to that philosophy of openness. The challenge is most clear in the area of video, where patents and copy protection are at odds with the Web's openness.

Tim Berners-Lee, a physicist at CERN, started developing what he called the World Wide Web in 1989. After CERN released the software for … Read more

CERN'S Tom Whyntie explains the universe, for beginners

If you thought the Big Bang theory was boring and particle physics was hard to understand, you've never seen those things explained by a cartoon version of CERN physicist Tom Whyntie.

He's able to put the information from a three-month science course into an easy-to-understand three-minute TEDEd video with the help of animation team at Hornet. The British-voiced blob bounces around and explains how scientists study the Big Bang by replacing the heat, energy, and activity of the first few seconds of the universe. … Read more

CERN physicists now pretty sure they've found Higgs boson

It's looking more likely that a particle CERN physicists discovered last year is the Higgs boson, researchers said today.

They cautioned it's not yet certain the particle is in fact the so-called "God particle" that can help explain how masses in the universe were formed. But this morning the leaders of the experiments running through the giant Large Hadron Collider said the analysis of more data -- two and a half times more, to be precise -- shows that the "new particle is looking more and more like a Higgs boson."

They also noted … Read more

Discover the Higgs boson particle -- on your wrist

Much like the epic quests of yore, the hunt for the Higgs boson particle has inspired stirring music, Stephen Hawking wagers, and now a timepiece for your wrist.

The Higgs Boson Watch is the God Particle taken the form of a personal accessory. The face of the watch depicts the Higgs decaying into other bosons during a collision. The hands move in a hypnotic spiral. If you stare at it long enough, you may gain an understanding of the very fabric of our universe.… Read more

At last! Angry Birds and CERN to create board game

I think I have found a solution for Zynga.

The company needs to get together with the United Nations peacekeeping forces around the world and create a board game in which people get killed, but not really.

How is it that I have had this quite brilliant notion?

Well, I have been stimulated by the news that Rovio, they who have enriched so many lives with Angry Birds, have got together with CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research, landlord for the Large Hadron Collider) to create new and amusing experiences to exercise young minds.

These will be under a … Read more

Did Higgs yield the most authors in a science study?

Scientists who announced two months ago observations of the elusive Higgs boson, the so-called "God particle," have had their research published in the peer-reviewed Physics Letters B, along with an astounding list of thousands of authors.

More than 5,000 researchers around the world are said to have contributed to the landmark studies by the CMS and ATLAS teams working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). They said on July 4 the new boson they had observed was consistent with the Higgs, believed to be responsible for imparting all elementary particles in the universe with mass.

Two articles by the teams are each about 30 pages long. The combined author list takes up 19 pages of single-spaced text and appears to have roughly 6,000 names. Wouldn't that be fun to cite as a footnote in full? … Read more

Berners-Lee in a dress and the Web's first uploaded photo

I never knew that Tim Berners-Lee was a cross-dresser.

I don't mean to bring it up to expose him. I bring it up merely to celebrate the fact.

For in 8 days' time, the first photo ever uploaded to the Web will be 20 years old. And why would a picture of a wonderful all-girl singing group be the first ever out there on the WWW?

Well, partly, a report suggests, because of Berners-Lee's cross-dressing.

I lean heavily for this information on the wonderful tale told by Motherboard. (I've also emailed Berners-Lee, but haven't heard back.)… Read more

Stephen Hawking: I lost a $100 bet over Higgs boson discovery

There is much excitement over the discovery of the Higgs boson particle.

Physicists everywhere are, as I understand it, overjoyed that all of their theories have been proved to be correct. Which certainly puts them far ahead of any economists.

However, for one man this discovery has come with a cost.

For Stephen Hawking admitted to the BBC that he'd just lost $100 over Higgs boson's arrival.

Hawking is clearly impressed with this breakthrough.

"It should earn Peter Higgs the Nobel Prize," he told the BBC.

There is, though, a certain melancholy for Hawking, too.

"… Read more