Inside the Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider sits in a tunnel beneath the France–Switzerland border. CERN built it between 1998 and 2008.

The concrete-lined tunnel stretches 27 kilometres around. The depth varies deliberately to avoid excavating under the Jura Mountains.

The LHC is the largest cryogenic facility worldwide.

Some 1,232 dipole magnets keep proton beams on their circular path. Each one has a mass of 35 tonnes.

About 96 tonnes of superfluid helium-4 keeps these copper-clad niobium-titanium magnets cold. That is a lot of cold copper.

Nine detectors sit around four crossing points where particles collide. ATLAS and CMS discovered the Higgs boson in 2012.

Before entering the main ring, protons pass through Linac4, the Proton Synchrotron Booster, and the Super Proton Synchrotron.

During operations, the CERN site draws roughly 200 MW from the French grid. Geneva leaves the lights on for physics.