On Thu, 2 Dec 2010, D and N wrote: > The other National Geo documentary was on Mega-structures: the > construction of the very complex and painfully precision-crucial camera > structures that record, I think, 40 million photos per second of atom > smashing events at CERN. When Pete stated that the most significant > thing about the project was the rigorous attention to detail and > collaboration of countless departments to ensure precision in order that > scientists could be reasonably certain of their findings, or some such > wording, he was making it sound easy. > > The show opened and focused on the installation of the two slightly > different humongous cameras, depicting a dramatic race for first > finished between the Atlas and CMS camera installation teams. (The > reason two different cameras are being used is to ensure that results > are accurate, even though different recording methods are employed.) The > magnet alone for the Atlas camera was something like 240 TONS solid, > which ended up having to be accommodated by a slight roof raising. As > they were lowering it into place, on cables, the staff was suitably > wide-eyed, realizing if it dropped, it was game over. As we learned, > Atlas was first to record, and the rest is history. > > If you get a chance, the National Geo channel re-runs these shows, I > think on a monthly basis. Amazing. > > Natalia
Ah, when you said "camera" you mean "detector". Is this a rerun of the show from a couple of years ago, with Roy Langstaff supervising the transportation of the Hadronic Endcap from the assembly area in bldg 180 down the road to the top of the hole which drops it down into the ATLAS detector (an immense object transported on a device with dozens of tires, looking something like the NASA shuttle transporter)? I have a vhs copy of it at home. I spent about three months working there with Roy over 2002-3, and it was cool to see him featured in the show. -Pete _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
