1. Vision of an exhibition at the Science Museum Large Hadron Collider Engineering wonder of the world Graham Farmelo30 June 2011

2. Executive Summary 1. This document presents a vision of a substantial temporary exhibition at the Science Museum on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), focusing on the engineering achievements that made it possible. 2. The exhibition will be a high-profile event in London’s cultural calendar, a must- visit for anyone interested in science and big ideas. 3. The exhibition will be rich in real objects, most of them provided by the CERN laboratory in Geneva, where the LHC is located. 4. In 2008, the Museum presented a successful Antenna exhibition ‘Big Bang’ on the LHC, focusing on what it might teach about the beginnings of the universe. The proposed exhibition will be on a much larger scale and will consolidate the Museum’s reputation as an excellent place for the public to find out about the latest science and outstanding engineering achievements. 5. The many contributions of British universities and engineering firms to the building of the LHC will be stressed. 6. No such engineering-focussed exhibition on the LHC has ever been presented before and no other institution is planning one – it will be a unique perspective on the biggest experimental programme in modern science. 7. The exhibition is envisaged to open at the Museum in 2013 and to run for several months 8. It is recommended that the Museum discusses with other leading European science museums and science centres the possibility of touring the exhibition after its London run. The touring version would, for each country visited, highlight its contributions to the LHC.

3. Executive Summary 9.The main target audience will be the scientifically curious, age 16 and older. 10.The exhibition will be rich in impressive objects (mainly prototypes) that illustrate why the machine is so exceptional (e.g. ‘the world’s fastest race track’ and ‘the emptiest place in the Solar System’). 11.A highlight will be a historical section that will demonstrate how far sub-atomic particle accelerators and detectors have progressed in the past century or so. This part of the exhibition will feature key objects from the Museum’s collection; two of them were made by pioneers based in Britain (J.J. Thomson, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton). 12.The exhibition should be a fresh opportunity for the Museum to extend its collection with objects from the contemporary scientific experiments. 13.Also featured will be interactives and interventions, mainly from artists based at CERN. 14.There will be a complementary programme of special events and talks involving leading engineers, physicists and cosmologists. 15.It is recommended that the Museum discusses with the BBC the possibility of a tie-in television documentary. 16.The proposal has the support of the CERN and the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council, which funds the British contribution to the LHC (Appendix 1)