Scientists beam as collider sets record

In a milestone for the 10 billion dollar Large Hadron Collider's ambitious bid to reveal details about theoretical particles and microforces, scientists collided the beams at a record energy level of 7 trillion electron volts.

The collisions herald a new era for researchers at at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, or CERN, in a 17-mile circular tunnel below the Swiss-French border at Geneva.

In a control room, scientists erupted with applause when the first successful collisions were confirmed. Their colleagues from around the world were tuning in by remote links to witness the new record.

Dubbed the world's largest scientific experiment, researchers hope the machine can approach on a tiny scale what happened in the first split seconds after the Big Bang, which they theorise was the creation of the

universe some 14 billion years ago.

The extra energy in Geneva is expected to reveal even more about the unanswered questions of particle physics, such as the existence of anti-matter and the search for the Higgs boson, a hypothetical particle that scientists theorise gives mass to other particles and thus to other objects and creatures in the universe.

Yesterday's initial attempts at collisions were unsuccessful because problems developed with the beams, said scientists working on the massive machine. That meant the protons had to be "dumped" from the collider and new beams had to be injected.

The atmosphere at CERN was tense considering the collider's launch with great fanfare on September 10, 2008.

Nine days later, the project was sidetracked when a badly soldered electrical joint overheated, causing extensive damage to the massive magnets and other parts.