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Tom Hanks to Turn On Large Hadron Collider

By Miss Cellania in Science & Tech on Feb 18, 2009 at 1:12 pm


The CERN Large Hadron Collider had to be taken out of commission last September for retooling after helium leaked out and caused £20 million in damage. Who gets to turn on the button to start it up when repairs are finished? Movie star Tom Hanks!

Hanks was approached about the move while filming his latest film Angels and Demons in which he plays a Harvard University academic investigating a plot to annihilate the Vatican with 0.25 grams of antimatter stolen from Cern.

Steve Myers, Cern’s director of accelerators and technology, told Nature News that he gave the actor a tour of the laboratory on February 13 and asked him if he would return for the switch-on, to which the actor agreed.

Cern’s head of communications, James Gillies, confirmed that the facility would be delighted to have Hanks there to restart the collider, which organisers hope will take place in June.

Link -via Gizmodo

Previously: Trouble at the LHC


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COMMENT
  1. planettom
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    "When you turn on your Large Hadron Collider, does it return the favor?"

  2. Matt
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    Just remember in the "Simpsons Movie", the government used Tom Hanks to cover up a fiasco. Watch the movie again!!

  3. djue
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    Insert "Da Vinci Code" reference here.

  4. SweetMonkeyCreek
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    I think it's good that a big time Hollywood guy will be there. So when they turn the machine back on and it inevitably rips a hole through the fabric of reality and legions of hellbeasts start spilling out into our dimension to feast on our souls, we're going to want a movie star there to look into the camera and say, "Hey ugly! Collide this!"

    It's just good science.

  5. Christophe
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    I guess it's better to be close to the black hole and die instantly, instead of waiting and watching the news crying... :)

  6. Tom
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    I always knew it, ever since I saw Splash!. I knew that Tom Hanks would be the man that would destroy the world.

  7. Alex
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    The big question is: will Tom Hanks Pee on the LHC?

  8. Jake D.
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    I'm not a doctor, but I play one on T.V.

  9. Allen T Garvin
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    Apparently he's actually been down there in the tunnels already for several weeks, playing some fantasy RPG. He only answers to the name "Pardu".

  10. ZoSo
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 11:32 pm

    The title is a bit misleading. It says he'll be there for the switch on, not that he'll be the one turning it on.

  11. ted
    Feb 18th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

    Seriously, after the Da Vinci Code turned out to be such an overrated piece of crap, they're actually filming another Dan Brown book?

  12. Hahaha
    Feb 19th, 2009 at 4:09 am

    True internet Primetime Grilling. Interwbebs, you crack me up. *hugs*

  13. Talula
    Feb 19th, 2009 at 9:41 am

    What, Tom Hanks gets to end the world and Johnny Depp doesn't? Where's the fairness in that?

  14. Byrd Brain
    Feb 19th, 2009 at 10:30 am

    So... Hanks gets to be there because he filmed a movie based on a book that has CERN in it. Does it matter that the author got MANY, MANY "facts" incorrect about CERN in that book?

  15. Trillian
    Feb 19th, 2009 at 11:57 am

    Hmmm ... I just don't think Tom Hanks is sexy enough to turn anything on. Especially a large Hard ... oh, wait, that's H-A-D-R ... never mind.

  16. just a guy
    Feb 20th, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    What if all the collider does is make Tom Hanks start doing commedy again (like Big), and stop only doing films he thinks will win him awards?

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