Particle Accelerators

Misha Glenny and guests explore particle accelerators — from the 27-kilometre Large Hadron Collider that discovered the Higgs boson to thousands of smaller machines worldwide. They discuss how colliders reveal fundamental particles by smashing beams at near-light speed, while also tracing the history of these 'big science' projects from Rutherford's atom-splitting to the cancelled Superconducting Super Collider. The conversation covers not only the physics of discovery but the medical, archaeological, and industrial applications of accelerator technology.