After reading everyone’s comments to my previous post, both positive and negative, let me first say thanks to those who took it with a sense of humor. And also, thank you to those who like to hear about the human side of doing science.
I will say my last paragraph there was a bit of a sucker punch. I said it in jest, but it was unnecessary, and distracts from my initial point. (A commentator reminded me are plenty of cool people in physics, and that is true! Also, I like nerds, for the record.)
My initial point, the important one, was simply: as great as it is to be a part of such a cutting-edge project, it does have its downsides. Those downsides not unique to CERN or France. They exist for many jobs, in many countries. And certainly, they are not anyone’s fault in particular. I was just trying to explain some of the strains & complications that exist for those involved with CERN that aren’t as prevalent in other areas of physics research – which is what gives me hesitation when giving a recommendation for joining this field to potential new recruits.
C’est tout!
PS – To the readers who want only the facts and news about LHC status and science: I hear you! I recommend:
- LHC Beam Status (can’t get more fact-based than this)
- CERN Twitter
- Official LHC News
- CMS Times (one of the two main detectors)
- CMS e-commentary
- ATLAS News (the 2nd of the two main detectors)
There’s also a site called Meltronx, which combines a dozen live status pages for the beam and the detectors. It might melt your eyes.
—Mike
Tags: student life
