engineering | cerncern accelerating science sign in directory in this section: engineering there are...

CERN Accelerating science Sign in Directory

In this section:

Engineering

There are 10 times more engineers and technicians at CERN than researchphysicists. Why?

The physics programme (/about/physics) at CERN presents engineers with varied

challenges at the forefront of technology, from the atomic scale to the colossal.Engineers build and test the machines and systems that physicists rely on, andtechnicians to keep these systems running smoothly, performing repairs and

Engineering | CERN http://home.web.cern.ch/about/engineering

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upgrades where necessary.

Building a particle accelerator, for example, can require civil engineering: diggingtunnels and installing large infrastructure projects. Other engineers andtechnicians assemble components: radiofrequency cavities must be crafted to justthe right shape and size to boost particles along accelerators; thousands of huge,custom-built electromagnets (/about/engineering/pulling-together-superconducting-

electromagnets) focus particle beams and guide them around bends in circular

accelerators; and the world's largest cryogenic system (/about/engineering/cryogenics-

low-temperatures-high-performance) cools magnets on the Large Hadron Collider (/about

/accelerators/large-hadron-collider) (LHC) to close to absolute zero, so that the wires

supplying their electricity can work in a superconducting state, without losingenergy to resistance.

Detectors present other engineering challenges. Their components and subsystemsare designed, built and tested separately, before they are joined together to work inharmony. Kilometres of wiring and thousands of electrical components makeparticle detectors a complex feat of engineering.

Engineers are vital to CERN's activities – to push the boundaries of experimentalphysics, they're building some of the most advanced machines in the world.

Engineering

Cryogenics: Low temperatures, high performance (/about/engineering/cryogenics-

low-temperatures-high-performance)

(/about/engineering/cryogenics-

low-temperatures-high-performance)

CERN's cryogenic systems cool over1000 magnets on the LHC totemperatures close to absolute zero,where matter takes on some unusualproperties

Pulling together: Superconducting electromagnets (/about/engineering/pulling-


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together-superconducting-electromagnets)

(/about/engineering/pulling-together-

superconducting-electromagnets)

Particles zipping round the LHC atclose to the speed of light must followprecise paths. Powerful magnets keepthe beams stable, accurate and safe

Powering CERN (/about/engineering/powering-cern)

(/about/engineering/powering-cern)

It takes a lot of electricity to power theworld's largest scientific experiment –but superconducting wires can helpkeep those energy costs down

A vacuum as empty as interplanetary space (/about/engineering/vacuum-empty-

interplanetary-space)

(/about/engineering/vacuum-empty-

interplanetary-space)

With the first start-up of beams in2008, the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) became the biggest operationalvacuum system in the world

Radiofrequency cavities (/about/engineering/radiofrequency-cavities)

(/about/engineering/radiofrequency-cavities)


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Metallic chambers along particleaccelerators contain electromagneticfields that accelerate passing particlesin tightly controlled bunches

Stochastic cooling (/about/engineering/stochastic-cooling)

(/about/engineering/stochastic-cooling)

Simon van der Meer invented thestochastic cooling technique at CERNto reduce the energy spread andangular divergence of beams ofcharged particles

Superconductivity (/about/engineering/superconductivity)

(/about/engineering/superconductivity)

Below a certain temperature,materials enter a superconductingstate and offer no resistance to thepassage of electrical current

Storing antimatter (/about/engineering/storing-antimatter)

Because antimatter annihilates in a flash of energy when it interacts with regularmatter, storing it presents a challenge


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ENGINEERING

Cryogenics: Low temperatures, high performance

Pulling together: Superconducting electromagnets

Powering CERN

A vacuum as empty as interplanetary space

Radiofrequency cavities

Stochastic cooling

Superconductivity

Storing antimatter

ABOUT CERN

About CERN

Computing

Engineering

Experiments

How a detector works

more →

UPDATES

Preparing for tomorrow's big data

4 Oct 2013 – At the ISC Big Data conference last week, Frank Würthwein of the University of

California explained how CERN will manage big data in future

Ukraine to become Associate Member State of CERN

3 Oct 2013 – CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer and Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Kostyantyn

Ivanovych Gryschenko signed an agreement today

Video: CERN computing through the ages

3 Oct 2013 – A new video from the CERN IT department showcases the evolution of CERN's

computing facilities since the 1950s

more updates →

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GENERAL INFO

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engineering | cerncern accelerating science sign in directory in this section: engineering there are...

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