“Anyone Who Thinks the LHC Will Destroy the World is a Twat.”

I’m a huge fan of Brian Cox. He’s often referred to as the “rockstar of physics,” which is a big complement considering the stereotypical physicist in everyone’s mind. From the get-go you know that Professor Cox is a guy you want in your laboratory, and you can see why from this excellent TED lecture he gave in Monterey, CA, this year. He is a tireless advocate of communicating science to the world and his outreach style is second-to-none. But like many modern scientists who are working on cutting-edge research, they are often at the mercy of public misconception, media hype and personal attacks. So when I hear news that some Large Hadron Collider (LHC) physicists are receiving death threats, I lose my faith in humanity…

I can see why people protest at a missile silo being built on their doorstep. I can even see why activists may cause disruption to the operations of an animal testing guinea pig farm. But I seriously have no idea why the LHC has generated such incredible fear amongst the ill-informed. So let’s get straight to the point:

THE LHC WILL NOT HURT ANYONE, IT WILL NOT DESTROY THE EARTH, IT WON’T EVEN DISRUPT YOUR CELLPHONE SIGNAL. THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER IS SAFE.

I know I said that I wouldn’t post another article about the stupid ideas that something bad will happen when the LHC is turned on, but I am blown away by the balls a Daily Mail (UK) journalist has to publish this corker of an article with the title: “Are we all going to die next Wednesday?” The Daily Mail is not a crank newspaper in the UK, it is one of the widest read tabloids in the country. I’m not sure which one shocks me the most; the fact there are mainstream journalists out there who publish scaremongering articles in major publications, or that the article will be read by millions of ordinary people surfing the web or reading the paper with their morning cup of tea.

Sure, the Daily Mail is known for a few “out there” articles, but this only panders to the senseless paranoia being spread by Rossler et al.. The funniest thing is, the author of the Mail article admits right at the end that, “…this is not a threat taken seriously by the scientists at CERN. When I visited the place a couple of years ago, to see the collider being built, any mention of mini-black holes and other risks elicited only raised eyebrows and shrugs of derision.”

So, this really is the last negative-LHC article I intend to write on Astroengine, only the good stuff from now on. I’ll leave you with a wonderful quote from Professor Cox I found in a more reputable UK new source. I get the impression even Brian is feeling the strain from the few idiotic doomsayers…

“Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a twat.” – Brian Cox

Superb!