Atom smasher passes test

GENEVA, Switzerland – A small blip on a computer screen sent champagne corks popping among physicists in Switzerland.

The blip was literally of cosmic proportions, representing a new tool to probe the birth of the universe.

The world’s largest atom smasher passed its first test Wednesday as scientists said their powerful tool is almost ready to reveal how the tiniest particles were first created after the “big bang,” which many theorize was the massive explosion that formed the stars, planets and everything.

Tension mounted in the five control rooms at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, as scientists huddled around computer screens. After a few trial runs, they fired a beam of protons clockwise around the 17-mile tunnel of the collider deep under the rolling fields along the Swiss-French border. Then they succeeded in sending another beam in the opposite, counterclockwise direction.

“The first technical challenge has been met,” said a jubilant Robert Aymar, director-general of CERN.

It is likely to be several weeks before the first significant collisions.