Microcosm: Mysteries of the Universe and of computing

In the first week of December, two new exhibitions open in Microcosm: "Mysteries of the Universe" and "Computing@CERN".

Ever wondered why the Universe is habitable? How many dimensions there are? Or indeed, where matter comes from? In Microcosm's new "Mysteries of the Universe" exhibition 20 CERN researchers reveal the question that intrigues them the most and why they find the search for answers so fascinating.
The exhibition consists of 20 stories, told by the researchers themselves in one of 4 languages (English, French, German or Italian). Through their tales, the visitor can discover the essence of CERN - a curiosity to understand the mechanisms of a universe full of surprises, where many fundamental questions remain unresolved.
With their diverse nationalities and experience, the participants reveal not only the variety of physics research underway at CERN, but also the experiments yet to come and indeed an element of the international collaboration so essential to the laboratory. In the words of one of the participants, "scientists confronting the Universe are like detectives confronting a murder mystery : to solve it, we shall need all the tools we have at our disposal, and then some."


Come and test the Grid at the new exhibition Computing@CERN in Microcosm.

BB?uting from large to tiny
The search for answers to the mysteries of modern physics pushes the advancement of technologies. Microcosm's second new exhibition retraces part of the history of computing at CERN, a domain where the laboratory has certainly been at the forefront of new techniques.
Objects take the visitor on a trip back down memory lane: be it the first ever web server, the first emulators, or indeed a piece of one of CERN's last giant mainframe computers, which heated up so much that it had to be cooled by liquid nitrogen! On a lighter note, discover the first computer disks from the 60's with their storage capacity equivalent to just 4 thousandths of a second of music on today's CDs.
With the LHC on the horizon, the laboratory's computing needs are even greater and today many eyes are turned to the GRID - a way of sharing computing resources and also data storage across the internet. In Microcosm, visitors will be able to find out more about the GRID and even send a job to the GRID test-bed from a website created by IT.

Meanwhile, the Microcosm team is still collecting your old CDs for a huge pile giving an idea of the enormous data storage capacity needed for LHC experiments. Thanks to all those who have donated CDs already - it is not too late to send more!
Please send them to Delphine Dalencon 33-R-014.