CERN: Unravelling the Secrets of the Universe with Big Data
Bernard Marr · 2016
CERN are the international scientific research organization that operate the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), humanity's biggest and most advanced physics experiment. The colliders, encased in 17 miles of tunnels buried 600 feet below the surface of Switzerland and France, aim to simulate conditions in the universe milliseconds following the Big Bang. The LHC is used in four main experiments, involving around 8000 analysts across the globe. They use the data to search for elusive theoretical particles and probe for the answers to questions involving anti-matter, dark matter and extra dimensions in time and space. Theoretical data, ideas about how people think the particles being hunted will act, is matched against the sensor data to determine what has been captured on camera. Distributed computing makes it possible to carry out tasks that are far beyond the capabilities of any one organization to complete alone.