Last month marked the first collisions in the largest man made particle physics experiment ever conducted, the LHC. In a remarkably short time, considering the drawbacks the experiment has suffered in the past, the LHC has gotten from very rough first collisions, to prolonged, stable beams and finishing up a few days ago with the highest energy collisions in any particle physics experiment to date.

This milestone comes just in time for the 50th birthday celebrations of another important particle accelerator; the Proton Synchrotron.
This machine was the first big circular particle accelerator at CERN, and was the beam source for such experiments as the Gargamelle bubble chamber, which first discovered neutral currents in the 70’s.

On the 3rd and 4th of this month at CERN, several Nobel Laureates arrived at CERN to reminisce about the success of the PS and the development of particle physics since. Many of the talks were focussed at discussing the experiments at the PS, SPS, LEP and then the LHC, with a few talks focussing mainly on theory.
The event was a fascinating insight into the minds of some of the greatest contributors to particle physics in the last half century. It definitely left me inspired.

As testament to the Proton Synchrotron’s success, it is still used as the second stage accelerator for the protons injected into the LHC today.