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Inside CERN: European Organization for Nuclear Research
For most people locations that hold a particular importance for the development of our society and for the advancement of science and technology often remain
hidden from view. They are separate and protected, such as CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, close to the city of Geneva. CERN is best known for its giant particle accelerator. Here researchers from around the world take part in a diverse array of fundamental physical research, in the pursuit
of knowledge that will perhaps one day revolutionize our understanding of the universe and life on our planet. The Swiss photographer Andri Pol mixed with this multicultural community of researchers and followed their work over an extended period of time. In doing so he created a unique portrait of this fascinating "underworld." The cutting-edge research is given a human face and even if we don't fully understand the processes at work, the pictures allow us to perceive how in this world of the tiniest particles the biggest connections are searched for. With an explanatory text and scientific-philosophical essay.
hidden from view. They are separate and protected, such as CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, close to the city of Geneva. CERN is best known for its giant particle accelerator. Here researchers from around the world take part in a diverse array of fundamental physical research, in the pursuit
of knowledge that will perhaps one day revolutionize our understanding of the universe and life on our planet. The Swiss photographer Andri Pol mixed with this multicultural community of researchers and followed their work over an extended period of time. In doing so he created a unique portrait of this fascinating "underworld." The cutting-edge research is given a human face and even if we don't fully understand the processes at work, the pictures allow us to perceive how in this world of the tiniest particles the biggest connections are searched for. With an explanatory text and scientific-philosophical essay.
432 pages, Paperback
First published March 28, 2012
40 people want to read
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December 21, 2013
IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO BUY THAT SPECIAL GEEK IN YOUR LIFE FOR CHRISTMAS... YOUR PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED!
I saw this gorgeous coffee-table book in the window of a Geneva bookstore the other day, and shamelessly wrote to the publishers to ask if I could get a review copy. Kind, wonderful Gloria at Lars Müller Publishing sent me one immediately. It is only right that my review should be equally prompt.
Andri Pol is a gifted photographer, and it's also clear that he has a sense of humor. He has compiled a brilliant collection of photographs showing what CERN is really like. World-famous particle physicists, you will discover, are pretty much like any other geeks. They have messy desks in offices decorated with peeling movie posters and collections of plastic figurines, and eat their unappetizing lunches with one eye on their laptops. They do pointless but amusing things and crack up laughing about them. Some of them make attempts to hit on attractive members of the opposite sex.
There's only one important difference: they do all this while thinking about the fundamental structures of the universe. Everywhere you look there are equations, graphs, scatter plots, Feynman diagrams, circuit schematics, scrawled three-deep on whiteboards, hastily noted down on crumpled bits of paper, dimly visible on computer screens, formally presented on neat Powerpoint slides. As Galileo said four hundred years ago, the book of Nature is written in mathematics. These people are speed-readers of that difficult language.
My favorite picture was the one above: the sign around the skeleton's neck says
I saw this gorgeous coffee-table book in the window of a Geneva bookstore the other day, and shamelessly wrote to the publishers to ask if I could get a review copy. Kind, wonderful Gloria at Lars Müller Publishing sent me one immediately. It is only right that my review should be equally prompt.
Andri Pol is a gifted photographer, and it's also clear that he has a sense of humor. He has compiled a brilliant collection of photographs showing what CERN is really like. World-famous particle physicists, you will discover, are pretty much like any other geeks. They have messy desks in offices decorated with peeling movie posters and collections of plastic figurines, and eat their unappetizing lunches with one eye on their laptops. They do pointless but amusing things and crack up laughing about them. Some of them make attempts to hit on attractive members of the opposite sex.
There's only one important difference: they do all this while thinking about the fundamental structures of the universe. Everywhere you look there are equations, graphs, scatter plots, Feynman diagrams, circuit schematics, scrawled three-deep on whiteboards, hastily noted down on crumpled bits of paper, dimly visible on computer screens, formally presented on neat Powerpoint slides. As Galileo said four hundred years ago, the book of Nature is written in mathematics. These people are speed-readers of that difficult language.
My favorite picture was the one above: the sign around the skeleton's neck says
I SPOKE BAD ABOUT SUSYIf you look at my review of The Elegant Universe, you'll see that I've also been guilty of saying rude things about the beautiful but rather controversial theory of supersymmetry, which is currently experiencing some problems. I was savaged earlier this week in the comment thread by someone who considered that I had no right to be expressing opinions on this highly specialized subject. At the time, I felt a bit miffed. Now I see that I've had a lucky escape.
Displaying 1 of 1 review