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You Have 16 Hours: Six Months in the Life of a Detector Physicist
Paperback
Series: Discovering Physics
ISBN13: 9781041339649
Publisher: CRC Press
Published: Nov 23 2026
Pages: 174
Language: English
This book aims to make the everyday life of a particle physicist working on one small part of one of the biggest experiments in the world - CERN's Large Hadron Collider - accessible to the general public: how does it work, why is it so difficult, and how do they manage to make it work anyway?
Chapters count down over a six-month period during which the author joined a new institute and was put in charge of an unfamiliar measurement that was complicated, crucial and urgent. During this time, the author had to quickly learn the background, the technicalities, and how to set up and run an experiment during the 2020 Covid-19 global pandemic.
Spoiler: many, many things went wrong - both trivial day-to-day problems and crucial scientific crisis - but these experiences provided a wonderful insight into why big science is such a challenge.
This book cleverly balances an autobiographical perspective filled with humor and anecdotes with an informative overview of the 'ups' and the 'downs' of science and why scientists love it anyway. It can be enjoyed by anyone, with no formal scientific background, looking to learn more about the day-to-day life of a researcher.
Key features:
- A unique 'behind-the-scenes' perspective into one of the largest experiments ever built by humanity.
- Explores the day-to-day life of a scientist working in cutting-edge research.
- Written in an accessible, informal and humorous style explaining difficult concepts with everyday analogies.
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