The technology at CERN is mind blowing. These pics show the tech that accelerates protons at the ~speed of light, a particle detector, the hallway where the World Wide Web was developed, the CERN Control Center, and the champagne that was popped for LHC milestones. ✳️... Picture 1: Ever wonder how these particles are accelerated? Pictured here is a radio frequency cavity. 128 of these puppies were placed around CERN's LEP (the LHC predecessor). It accelerated particles using microwave electric oscillations at 352MHz. These "push" particles faster and faster, like a surfer riding a wave. 🌊 ✳️... Picture 2: this is the 26-ton Big European Bubble Chamber - a detector from the 70's that was filled with 35 cubic meters of liquefied gas. A huge 2-ton piston would be used to expand and contract the liquid. When it was expanded and a stream of charges particles skipped through the liquid, they would leave a stream of bubbles - because the liquid had reached its boiling point. When those bubbl...