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Letter: Ultimate machine

Published 24 September 2008

From Michael Berkson

The Large Hadron Collider is a wonderful achievement, but I am not convinced by Anil Ananthaswamy describing it as “the largest machine in the world” (30 August, p 31). I was told otherwise, ironically by a physicist at CERN, while I was employed by a telecoms company: this honour belongs instead to the worldwide telecommunications network.

From Mark Burrard

Given the amount of energy circulating the LHC and the much-debated possibility of it making Earth-consuming black holes, did anyone else find the small wall-mounted fire-extinguisher in the photo of the inside of the LHC tunnel a little bit incongruous?

Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia

Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, UK

Issue no. 2675 published 27 September 2008

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