The Large Hadron Collider

“Muons and mesons and quarks—oh my! Never fear, Dorothy,
the Large Hadron Collider and open-source software will save the
day. 

“What is at the heart of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
experiments? It should not surprise you that open-source software
is one of the things that powers the most complex scientific human
endeavor ever attempted. I hope to give you a glimpse into how
scientific computing embraces open-source software and the
open-source philosophy in one of the LHC experiments.

“The Tiered Computing Model

“The LHC near Geneva, Switzerland, is nearly 100 meters
underground and provides the highest-energy subatomic particle
beams ever produced. The goal of the LHC is to give physicists a
window into the universe immediately after the big bang. However,
when physicists calculated the level of computing power needed to
peer through that window, it became clear that it would not be
possible to do it with only the computers that could fit under one
roof.”

Complete
Story