US closes major atom smasher
October 1st, 2011 - 4:44 am ICT by IANSWashington, Oct 1 (IANS) The Tevatron, a 25-year-old atom smasher in Batavia, Illinois, was shut down for the last time Friday, Xinhua reported.
The closure, which marks the end of a quarter-century of US dominance in high-energy particle physics, was attributed to the US energy department’s decision not to spend $35 million needed to extend its operation through 2014.
Tevatron was run by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Helen Edwards, the lead scientist for the construction of the Tevatron in the 1980s, terminated the final store in the Tevatron, which uses magnets cooled to minus 450 degrees Fahrenheit to push the particles at nearly the speed of light.
It has made major contributions to physics, including the discovery of three of the 17 particles thought fundamental to the universe.
And in 1995, it achieved its biggest success, finding a subatomic particle called the top quark, the last of six fundamental building blocks of matter to be discovered, Xinhua said quoting the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
Physicists at the US lab will turn to conduct a smaller and more focused project to study the universe in a new way. The new venture, called Project X, could cost up to $2 billion, but it has no funding yet.
- US 'atom smasher' could get more time to hunt 'God particle' - Jul 23, 2010
- Scientists trash reports of God particle discovery - Jul 16, 2010
- Indian scientists dismiss reports on 'god particle' - May 01, 2011
- LHC surpasses rivals with first result - Sep 15, 2010
- Has Large Hadron Collider rival Tevatron found elusive 'God particle'? - Jul 13, 2010
- Large Hadron Collider sets new beam intensity record - Apr 23, 2011
- Possible discovery of new sub-atomic particle could upset rules of physics - Apr 18, 2011
- Scientists discover new particle that may rewrite how matters created - Mar 23, 2009
- Scientists create hottest temperature in universe - Feb 18, 2010
- Supernova remnant erupts in enormous flares - May 12, 2011
- LHC gets closer to 'God particle' - Jul 24, 2010
- God Particle hidden at lower mass, say physicists - Mar 14, 2009
- American research suggests existence of 'multiple God particles' - Jun 15, 2010
- Scientists discover most massive form of antimatter to date - Mar 05, 2010
- New exotic particle pops up during LHC experiments - Mar 29, 2011
Tags: atom smasher, batavia illinois, building blocks of matter, chicago tribune, dominance, energy department, energy particle physics, fermi national accelerator, fermi national accelerator laboratory, helen edwards, high energy, national accelerator laboratory, physicists, project x, quarter century, speed of light, subatomic particle, tevatron, top quark, xinhua