The Large Hadron Collider at le Palais de la Découverte : mmh… How should I put this… I didn’t exactly get it.
I imagine people who are interested in the subject or have good memories of their physics lessons will be less lost than I was. But as far as I’m concerned, the technicality of it is too complex, despite the really simplified explanations displayed as for a class of schoolchildren.
If you can go past that, or if you think you can understand it, there is still a nice good half to see. The very good scenography, which includes excellent frames and settings, highlights how the LHC is a real human adventure, and it easy to sympathise with the 10 000 people who worked for its success. That is what I will especially remember: an extreme project surrounded by crazy numbers (3000 physicists and engineers, 6 billion €, 27kms, 1 000 000 000 000 000 particle collisions, 40 000 tons of magnets, the equivalent of small town in electricity…), which succeeds thanks to human will.
That said, I have to admit: I spent as much time reading the funny posters on the doors of the fake CERN offices hall as I did reading the scientific explanations!
A good exhibition, in the end, but read up on it more than I did before going if you don’t want to feel dumb…
You can actually prepare for it on the website of the Palais itself, and find anything you need to go as well. You can also have a look at 2 posts on the excellent blog Tu mourras moins bête on the subject, although they are only in French.
Parisian idleness 