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Europe - LHC and Geneva
Jul. 23rd, 2009 12:56 amWas really excited the first day I got to CERN. I definitely feel like LHC was the most impressive thing I saw on the trip. But as it turned out, I didn't actually get to go all the way down in the pit and see the ATLAS detector directly. I was visiting two friends who were working there, and one of them had set up an "ATLAS tour" for me days before, and he had specifically asked them "will he get to go down in the pit?" and they assured him that yes, I would. But when it came time for the actually tour, we didn't go down there. I asked the tour guide why afterwards, and he said "oh, it's very difficult to do that nowadays, you have to book it at least 6 months in advance." So I guess there was some miscommunication. That was on the second day, and was a bit disappointing after all the buildup. But just seeing all the buildings and other stuff and getting to look down at the top of the ATLAS detector from the shaft above was still pretty awesome.
I went to a Standard Model meeting in building 40 on the first day. Like most experimental physics, it was very boring, but kind of neat to see all the LHC people hard at work discussing the intricacies of how to share the right data from different triggers with the right groups. Also got to see the ATLAS control room, and a 3D video of the detector and other stuff. Ate lunch and dinner in the cafeteria in Restaurant 1 a couple times, and hung out in the general vicinity for much of two days.
I took lots of pictures of both the inside and outside of building 40, because it looks to me like it was designed to look like a starship, like something out of Startrek or B5. They even have video monitors embedded into the walls periodically as you walk down the curved hallways... the video monitors appeared to show the status of the beam or the detectors or something, although I imagine it will be far more useful once the whole thing gets up and running for real. I am still uploading my Europe pictures to Flickr, but when I do I will hopefully post them here. I put about a quarter of them on Facebook already, but I didn't have any from the end of the trip yet when I did that.
There are 3 official languages in Switzerland, French German and Italian. They speak mostly French in Geneva, but the scientists at CERN speak English. I got used to hearing English there, and then was surprised when I turned to ask one of the service staff something and he only spoke French... forgetting for a moment where I was. At lunch and dinner, you hear all kinds of different languages ranging from Arabic to Mandarin, although still mostly English. I know it's cliche to say, but it is so amazing how many different countries are represented at CERN, there is a true feeling of a "global community" there.
Sent a bunch of postcards out from CERN but so far nobody seems to have gotten them so I'm not sure what happened.
Geneva itself has very few actual tourist attractions. Really the only one is the Jet d'Eau, a really tall jet of water that shoots up into the sky (see pictures later). I meant to stop by the UN building, but forgot until after I had returned to the US. What Geneva *does* have is a lot of watch stores, and a lot of stores that sell fancy pens (like Mont Blanc) and swiss army knives. One thing I noticed that seemed a bit different than elsewhere was that nearly all of the men hanging out on the street corners, even young men, tended to be dressed in nice black suits. I felt very underdressed when I walked around Geneva.
I was impressed at how open the borders were between Switzerland and France, I walked across it twice before I eventually realized where the border guard station was... just never noticed it the first couple times. Also road a normal city bus across the border and never did figure out where the border was or when we had crossed. Nobody ever asked for an id or a passport anywhere, although once they did make eye contact. We even crossed the border one time by entering CERN on the Swiss side and exiting on the French side... that way you bypass border guard stations entirely. I can't imagine the US doing anything so lax as that for its borders. Although I think part of the reason is that Switzerland apparently has a very libertarian government... very little welfare and a flat tax (* see below for caveats). Without the welfare we have, there is no reason to keep the border closed. They also have an entirely different attitude towards lawsuits and public safety than we do... basically, if you put yourself at risk, it's your fault. No suing the person who owned the property you tresspassed on like we do here. I found this one out after we took a shortcut right through a construction zone and within a foot or two of an operating backhoe. Instead of asking us to leave, we just got a nod and the guy made sure not to hit us with the backhoe. I had thought Europe was more towards socialism than the US, but Switzerland seems to be in the opposite direction on most accounts. Maybe due to a lot of their voting populace being rich bankers? I'm surprised I haven't heard more Libertarians in the US saying "I'm tired of this, I'm moving to Switzerland". Although probably my impression of their government was only superficial and there are other differences to be considered.
* UPDATE ON SWISS TAX STRUTURE (with caveats!): After writing this I realized that I had not actually gone and researched it, just relied on offhand comments my friends who are living and working there made. So I just spent a while tracking down what the actual tax structure is in Switzerland. It's pretty complicated because there are taxes levied at federal, canton (state), and local levels for different kinds of things. There is a flat national sales tax, and a flat federal "anticipatory tax" on certain types of income (interest and dividends mainly). There are no federal taxes on regular wages, this is left up to the Cantons. So if you live in some Cantons you will have a hefty progressive income tax to pay, while in others it is completely flat. Overall, their taxes collected as a percentage of the GDP is on par with the US, but certain regions of Switzerland are considered "tax havens" that attract wealthy businessmen and corporations Sources: (http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/archive.html?siteSect=883&sid=8539252&ty=st, http://www.taxarticles.info/2009/06/the-tax-system-of-switzerland, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Switzerland)
I went to a Standard Model meeting in building 40 on the first day. Like most experimental physics, it was very boring, but kind of neat to see all the LHC people hard at work discussing the intricacies of how to share the right data from different triggers with the right groups. Also got to see the ATLAS control room, and a 3D video of the detector and other stuff. Ate lunch and dinner in the cafeteria in Restaurant 1 a couple times, and hung out in the general vicinity for much of two days.
I took lots of pictures of both the inside and outside of building 40, because it looks to me like it was designed to look like a starship, like something out of Startrek or B5. They even have video monitors embedded into the walls periodically as you walk down the curved hallways... the video monitors appeared to show the status of the beam or the detectors or something, although I imagine it will be far more useful once the whole thing gets up and running for real. I am still uploading my Europe pictures to Flickr, but when I do I will hopefully post them here. I put about a quarter of them on Facebook already, but I didn't have any from the end of the trip yet when I did that.
There are 3 official languages in Switzerland, French German and Italian. They speak mostly French in Geneva, but the scientists at CERN speak English. I got used to hearing English there, and then was surprised when I turned to ask one of the service staff something and he only spoke French... forgetting for a moment where I was. At lunch and dinner, you hear all kinds of different languages ranging from Arabic to Mandarin, although still mostly English. I know it's cliche to say, but it is so amazing how many different countries are represented at CERN, there is a true feeling of a "global community" there.
Sent a bunch of postcards out from CERN but so far nobody seems to have gotten them so I'm not sure what happened.
Geneva itself has very few actual tourist attractions. Really the only one is the Jet d'Eau, a really tall jet of water that shoots up into the sky (see pictures later). I meant to stop by the UN building, but forgot until after I had returned to the US. What Geneva *does* have is a lot of watch stores, and a lot of stores that sell fancy pens (like Mont Blanc) and swiss army knives. One thing I noticed that seemed a bit different than elsewhere was that nearly all of the men hanging out on the street corners, even young men, tended to be dressed in nice black suits. I felt very underdressed when I walked around Geneva.
I was impressed at how open the borders were between Switzerland and France, I walked across it twice before I eventually realized where the border guard station was... just never noticed it the first couple times. Also road a normal city bus across the border and never did figure out where the border was or when we had crossed. Nobody ever asked for an id or a passport anywhere, although once they did make eye contact. We even crossed the border one time by entering CERN on the Swiss side and exiting on the French side... that way you bypass border guard stations entirely. I can't imagine the US doing anything so lax as that for its borders. Although I think part of the reason is that Switzerland apparently has a very libertarian government... very little welfare and a flat tax (* see below for caveats). Without the welfare we have, there is no reason to keep the border closed. They also have an entirely different attitude towards lawsuits and public safety than we do... basically, if you put yourself at risk, it's your fault. No suing the person who owned the property you tresspassed on like we do here. I found this one out after we took a shortcut right through a construction zone and within a foot or two of an operating backhoe. Instead of asking us to leave, we just got a nod and the guy made sure not to hit us with the backhoe. I had thought Europe was more towards socialism than the US, but Switzerland seems to be in the opposite direction on most accounts. Maybe due to a lot of their voting populace being rich bankers? I'm surprised I haven't heard more Libertarians in the US saying "I'm tired of this, I'm moving to Switzerland". Although probably my impression of their government was only superficial and there are other differences to be considered.
* UPDATE ON SWISS TAX STRUTURE (with caveats!): After writing this I realized that I had not actually gone and researched it, just relied on offhand comments my friends who are living and working there made. So I just spent a while tracking down what the actual tax structure is in Switzerland. It's pretty complicated because there are taxes levied at federal, canton (state), and local levels for different kinds of things. There is a flat national sales tax, and a flat federal "anticipatory tax" on certain types of income (interest and dividends mainly). There are no federal taxes on regular wages, this is left up to the Cantons. So if you live in some Cantons you will have a hefty progressive income tax to pay, while in others it is completely flat. Overall, their taxes collected as a percentage of the GDP is on par with the US, but certain regions of Switzerland are considered "tax havens" that attract wealthy businessmen and corporations Sources: (http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/archive.html?siteSect=883&sid=8539252&ty=st, http://www.taxarticles.info/2009/06/the-tax-system-of-switzerland, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Switzerland)
