CERN is a renowned international nuclear research facility located just outside Geneva. Straddling the border between Switzerland and France, it's home to the infamous Large Hadron Collider — the largest single machine ever made by humankind. It was built to find the Higgs boson, often referred to as the elusive "God particle." CERN recently hosted a small group of select photographers for a rare photo walk throughout their massive experimental laboratory, and we have an exclusive first look at the photos.
Inside CERN
I caught up with Dutch photographer Ruben Lammerink, who won a competition to attend the event along with 18 other handpicked photographers from around the world.
"It was an amazing experience and such an honor to photograph these great scientific achievements," said Lammerink. "It was tricky to shoot because despite the massive campus, they make use of every inch of space. It was a tight squeeze with a lot of mixed lighting, and sometimes very dim, so I shot wide open with a high ISO. We had guides lead us through different facilities hosting complex experiments. It was chaotic and mind-boggling and beautiful."
Check out the photos below from a few of the CERN photo walk attendees.
The ATLAS Building at CERN - Photo by Christine Woodward
An engineer working at ISOLDE - Photo by Christine Woodward
A particle detector for radioactive isotopes at CERN - Photo by Andrew Hara
A close-up of an experiment at ISOLDE - Photo by Ruben Lammerink
An engineer prepares the attendees to enter LINAC4 - Photo by Gaetano Cessati
A office at CERN - Photo by Christine Woodard
A scientist calibrates an experiment at ISOLDE - Photo by Ruben Lammerink
University students work on an experiment at ISOLDE - Photo by Gaetano Cessati
A welder checks the work done by a welding robot at CERN - Photo by Ruben Lammerink
An accelerating structure in LINAC4 - Photo by Andrew Hara
A view of an ISOLDE experiment from above - Photo by Mask Mae
Photo walk attendee Andrew Hara stands beside the heart of an ISOLDE experiment - Photo by Ruben Lammerink
An engineer pours liquid nitrogen to cool a component in ISOLDE - Photo by Ruben Lammerink
The LINAC4 accelerator - Photo by Andrew Hara
A machinist operates a CNC mill at CERN - Photo by Christine Woodard
An engineer works on cabling at the LINAC4 - Photo by Ruben Lammerink
Machinists work on a welding robot at the CERN Main Workshop - Photo by Andrew Hara
A welder checks the work done by a welding robot at CERN - Photo by Mask Mae
A project manager describes the process of proton acceleration at CERN - Photo by Ruben Lammerink
The floor of ISOLDE - Photo by Ruben Lammerink
Outside the LENAC4 Building at CERN - Photo by Gaetano Cessati
2015 CERN Photo Walk Attendees
A big thanks to photographers Ruben Lammerink, Christine Niemann, Gaetano Cessati, Maëlle Baud, and Andrew Hara for contributing their photography. Cover photo by Andrew Hara.
All images used with permission.
I'm sorry, but can we please ban the word "epic" from fstoppers article headlines from now on?
http://static3.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/123/1239113/2860200-half...
These are incredible. It's awesome to get a look behind the scenes at such and epic experiment. Thanks for the post.