A joyous celebration of intellectual achievement, filmmaker Mark Levinson's Particle Fever takes viewers on a behind-the-scenes tour of the biggest machine ever built: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva. Approximately 3,000 scientists and engineers (many hailing from nations that normally hate and oppose each other) worked together on the historic, pure-science effort to create conditions under which it would be possible to view and assess the Higgs boson, aka the "God Particle," a crucial building-block (about a thousandth the size of a proton) in the origin of the universe. The physicists—including luminary David E. Kaplan—come across as quirky, creative, funny and real, never lapsing into the comic-book geek stereotypes of The Big Bang Theory as they navigate technical snafus, mount a 2007 media extravaganza for the first test-fire of the LHC (later, they regret the hoopla as unfortunate showboating and a misleading PR stunt), and hunt for the Higgs boson. Veteran Hollywood editor Walter Murch can be credited for shaping this material into a strong narrative that makes sublime science comprehensible to the layperson. Sure to appeal to those who enjoyed Cosmos, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (C. Cassady)
Particle Fever
(2013) 99 min. DVD: $95: high schools & public libraries; $295 w/PPR: colleges & universities. DRA. Ro*co Films Educational. Volume 30, Issue 1
Particle Fever
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