One of the best things about being at CERN is that you often get to attend interesting events like seminars that happen here all the time. Most of the prominent scientists in high-energy physics speak here at some point, and hearing them explain their ideas first hand is better than only reading their published papers. Also, CERN often hosts events like the one I attended yesterday, a birthday party for the nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia (the video and talks are linked to from this page).
There were interesting historical talks by many of the key players from CERN’s past. Parallels between the start-up of the SPS collider where the W and Z bosons were discovered in the early 1980’s and the LHC were drawn as several speakers drew a line from the work Prof. Rubbia did in accelerator physics decades ago to the LHC that is going to start operations later this year.
Carlo Rubbia is a legendary figure in the field, and many of the people yesterday emphasized how his intelligence and knowledge combined with his forcefulness to get projects done, even when many outsiders were skeptical they could be made to work.
