Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith
Director General of CERN,
1994-98
Abstract: The
Large Hadron
Collider
The LHC is expected to provide new
insights into the nature of matter and the structure of the
universe. I will describe the aims of the LHC, how it works, and
some of the major technical challenges that had to be met during
construction. After the spectacularly successful start-up last
September, which took place in a glare of publicity, it broke down:
I will describe what went wrong, and plans to re-start in the
summer. I will conclude with prospects for the future, including
what the LHC may discover and when.
Biog:
Chris Llewellyn Smith is a theoretical
physicist. He is currently Chairman of the Council of ITER
(the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor) and of the
Consultative Committee for Euratom on Fusion (CCE-FU),
President of the Council of SESAME (Synchrotron light for
Experimental Science and its Applications in the Middle
East), and a Vice President of the Royal Society. He was
Director of UKAEA Culham (2003-2008), with responsibility
for the UK's fusion programme and for operation of the Joint
European Torus (JET), Provost and President of University
College London (1999 - 2002), Director General of CERN (1994
- 1998), and Chairman of Oxford Physics (1987 - 1992).
During his mandate as Director General of CERN the Large
Hadron Collider (LHC) was approved and started, and CERN’s
flagship Large Electron Positron collider (LEP) was
successfully upgraded. Chris Llewellyn Smith has written
and spoken widely on science funding, international
scientific collaboration, and energy issues. His scientific
contributions and leadership have been recognised by awards
and honours in seven countries on three continents.
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