World's Largest Atom Smasher

Feb. 28, 2007: A person looks at the giant magnet Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) being placed underground in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerator at CERN, the European Particle Physics laboratory, in Cressy near Geneva, France.  (AP)

Sept. 29, 2004: Powerful "skytracer" floodlights light up the 27-kilometre ring of the Large Hadron Collider of the CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland.  (AP)

CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and most powerful particle collider, is scheduled to restart in fall 2009, and more than 100,000 Analog Devices data converters will play a key role in helping scientists discover what the universe is made of and how it works by studying the debris created by the collision of sub-atomic particles. (AP)

Feb. 29, 2008: The last element, weighing 100 tons, of the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) experiment is lowered into the cave at the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN in Meyrin, near Geneva, Switzerland. (AP)

Sept. 10, 2008: European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) scientists control computer screens showing traces on Atlas experiment of the first protons injected in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) during its switch on operation in CERN's control room, near Geneva, Switzerland. (AP)

Sept. 2, 2008:  The entrance of the CERN Control Centre (CCC) of LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at the European Particle Physics laboratory (CERN) in Prevessin, France, at the Swiss border, near Geneva, is pictured. (AP)

October 16, 2008: The Linac 2 (Linear Accelerator 2) is pictured at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Meyrin near Geneva . The current accelerator, built in 1978 and which will be replaced in 2013 by Linac 4, separates hydrogen gas into electrons and protons and provides protons beams to the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) that scientists at the CERN use to re-enact the conditions of the "Big Bang" that created the universe. (Reuters)