JAPAN last week donated 65 million Swiss francs (拢36 million) to help build the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator under development at CERN, Europe鈥檚 centre for particle physics in Geneva.
The donation is the first since the member countries of CERN agreed to build the LHC last December. 鈥淐ERN is delighted by Japan鈥檚 decision,鈥� says Chris Llewellyn-Smith, the director-general of CERN.
When the LHC is completed next century, it will allow physicists to smash particles together at higher energies than ever before. 杏吧原创s hope this will reveal vital information about the forces and fundamental particles of the Universe.
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The LHC will cost an estimated 拢1.4 billion to build, and CERN is hoping to raise around 拢275 million of this from countries that are not members of CERN. Japan鈥檚 is the first contribution, but much rests on whether the US Congress will approve a donation of around 拢200 million.
鈥淚 hope this Japanese gesture will speed things up in the US,鈥� says Lyn Evans, the LHC project manager at CERN.