Particle Fever documents scientists at CERN during the largest and most expensive experiment ever undertaken. The world wide web was even invented at CERN in order for scientists to easily share the vast amount of data they were working with!
The film follows the building of the Large Hadron Collider. This was created to mimic the conditions at the Big Bang to allow scientists to search for the predicted Higgs boson particle, which could potentially explain the origin of all matter (stuff). Not to ruin the ending, but unless you had your head buried in the sand you will now their quest was successful. To have the exact moment of discovery on film is, in my opinion, rather magical!
If you don’t know your boson from your proton – not to worry! The documentary has been crafted so that the journey is accessible to everyone. In fact if you go to the Particle Fever website they even have a glossary to help you on your way. For example, did you know that particles are subdivided into force carrying particles called bosons and matter (stuff) particles which include electrons and quarks?
So physics lover or not, this documentary will immerse the viewer in an impressive feat of determination and collaboration (scientists from over 100 nations worked on the project). There is a special screening on tonight at the Science Museum. If you can’t make that then sign up on the documentary’s website to get an alert when a showing is next near you.
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