Join us for an all-day marathon to witness the switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider

Will the world end this week? So what's really going on deep beneath the ground in Geneva in the 27km long Large Hadron Collider?

DON'T PANIC... In spite of rumours about the creation of black holes and quantum strangelets triggering the apocalyse we are feeling optimistic about the future at the Science Gallery, so to celebrate the switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider we are delighted to invite you to an all-day marathon viewing event.

Drop in to chat with leading scientists involved in the project, watch the live feed from CERN and grab a capuccino or a pastry to relieve those doomsday blues.

We will kick off bright and early from 7.30AM with Dr Ronan McNulty, leading UCD particle physicist, science broadcaster Leo Enright and go on until 5PM with leading scientists involved in the project available to lead you through exactly what is happening as we watch the live feed of the first beams passing through the LHC at enormous energies and speeds approaching a whopping 99.9999% of the speed of light.

TCD computer scientist Dr Stephen Childs and his colleagues will also be on hand to explain their involvement in the global computing grid that will store and analyse the flood of data coming from the LHC. Dr Luke Drury of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies and Shane Bergin of CRANN are also promising to pop in.

If you have real subatomic staying power and assuming the apocalypse holds off, we will have a full nine hours of video feed from CERN, with various guests and experts coming throughout the day until 5pm. So come and join us in the Science Gallery cafe on the quest for the elusive "God particle", the Higg's boson, as the LHC recreates conditions just after the Big Bang.

Place: Science Gallery, Pearse Street, Dublin 2

Time: ALL DAY (7.30AM to 5.00PM) See schedule below

Entry: Free

Want to know more about the Large Hadron Collider? Try these sites:

• Cosmos Magazine Article
• CERN LHC pages
  
• 3D views of the Large Hadron Collider in Flash

Schedule for LHC First Beam Day -- subject to change

The Schedule below is in local Irish time and includes live activities happening throughout the day at CERN (indented) and those happening onsite in the Science Gallery.

Coverage will be centered at the CERN Control Centre, the main hub of activity as scientists attempt to circulate the first beam. All the controls for the LHC and it's pre-accelerators, their services and technical infrastructure are housed in the CCC, and from there accelerator operators inject the beams and steer them around the 27-kilometer ring. Viewers will see activity in the CCC and hear interviews with LHC scientists and engineers, past and present notable CERN personalities, and Nobel laureates in physics.

The first attempt to circulate an LHC beam will begin just after 8:00.

7:30 DR RONAN MCNULTY LEADING UCD PARTICLE PHYSICIST AND ONE OF THE SCIENTISTS INVOLVED IN THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER WILL GIVE A BRIEF TALK AT THE SCIENCE GALLERY INTRODUCING THE DAY AND WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT.

8:00 Live feed begins with an introduction from the commentators in the CERN Control Centre, an animation showing the passage of a beam through the LHC, and highlights of the LHC operators’ daily meeting where they lay out the procedure for getting the first beam circulating in the LHC.

8:15 Briefing in French by LHC Project Leader Lyn Evans and CERN Director General Robert Aymar on the plans for the LHC First Beam Day.

Following the statement coverage begins of the first attempt to circulate a beam in the LHC. Lyn Evans will narrate the proceedings in English from the CERN Control Centre. Video of accelerator operators at work in the CCC will alternate with views of the LHC apparatus in its tunnel 100 meters underground.

8:30 LEO ENRIGHT, LEADING IRISH SCIENTIST BROADCASTER WILL PROVIDE A COMMENTARY ON WHAT’S HAPPENING AND ITS IMPACT ON SCIENCE WORLDWIDE.

9:00 Briefing in English by Lyn Evans, LHC Project Leader. The three-minute briefing will be followed by coverage of 10 minutes of Q&A between Lyn Evans and journalists at CERN for the event.

9:13 Tour of the control rooms of the four major LHC experiments: LHCb, CMS, ALICE and ATLAS. Viewers will see activity in each control room, and hear scientists from each experiment speak about their experiment and experiences during the first beam day.

9:25 Back to the CERN Control Centre for continuing coverage of the first beams in the Large Hadron Collider.

10:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

10:30 Visit by videoconference to Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, near Chicago, Illinois, USA. Fermilab, which contributes to construction and operation of the LHC and CMS experiment, will host a pajama party in the middle of the night for scientists, media, VIPs and members of the public to follow the events at
CERN live as they happen.

10:45 Video clips from worldwide non-CERN-Member-State particle physics institutes that contributed to LHC construction.

10:56 HIGHLIGHTS from the morning’s activities in the CERN Control Centre

11:00 Press Conference in English and French with CERN Director General Robert Aymar and LHC Project Leader Lyn Evans.

11:25 Visit the LHCb experiment, possibly the first experiment to see evidence of beam in the LHC on 10 September. A five-minute pre-recorded clip explaining the LHCb experiment will be followed by ten minutes of coverage of activity in the LHCb control room and interviews with LHCb scientists.

11:45 Movie: The Time Machine: The LHC Adventure is a Journey Through Time.

12:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

12:13 Visit the CMS experiment. A five-minute pre-recorded clip explaining the CMS experiment will be followed by ten minutes of coverage of activity in the CMS control room and interviews with CMS scientists.

13:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

13:24 Visit the ALICE experiment. A five-minute pre-recorded clip explaining the ALICE experiment will be followed by ten minutes of coverage of activity in the ALICE control room and interviews with ALICE scientists.

13:45 HIGHLIGHTS from the day’s activities in the CERN Control Centre

14:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

14:20 Visit the ATLAS experiment. A five-minute pre-recorded clip explaining the ATLAS experiment will be followed by ten minutes of coverage of activity in the ATLAS control room and interviews with ATLAS scientists.

14:50 HIGHTLIGHTS footage of the day’s activities at CERN

15:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

15:24 Tour of the control rooms of the four major LHC experiments: LHCb, CMS, ALICE and ATLAS. Viewers will see activity in each control room, and hear scientists from each experiment speak about their experiment and experiences during the first beam day.

16:30 Briefing in English with Lyn Evans, LHC Project Leader. The five-minute briefing will be followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

16:45 HIGHLIGHTS footage of the day’s activities at CERN

17:00 End of satellite broadcast and webcast.