As reported on Wired.
BY ADAM MANN
The KLOE detector at Frascati National Laboratory in Italy looks for a special asymmetry in the behavior of strange particles called kaons. The experiment could help explain why the universe is made of matter and not antimatter. This was the Jury’s Choice first place image.
Credit: Joseph Paul Boccio
Looking like something from the set of Transformers, the Canadian TIGRESS detector photographs the gamma rays coming from exotic isotopes of different elements as they interact and decay.This was the Jury’s Choice second place image.
Credit: Andy White
A room full of data storage at the U.K. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. This was the Jury’s Choice third place image.
Credit: Helen Trist
A starkly lit tunnel connecting underground halls at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. This was the People’s Choice first place image.
Credit: Nino Bruno
The Brookhaven National Lab’s STAR detector, which tracks thousands of particles created at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. This was the People’s Choice second place image.
Credit: Enrique Diaz
Though often overshadowed by the much larger particle accelerators at CERN and Fermilab, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Lab in New York is one of the finest machines in nuclear physics. Unfortunately, earlier this year a committee recommended to close the RHIC in the case of future budget cuts, a situation that would leave the U.S. without a particle collider. This was the People’s Choice third place image.
Credit: Steve Zimic
Machines roll over a projected image of the Pleiades, an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus. This image was taken at the U.K. Astronomy Technology Centre in Scotland.
Credit: William Palin
Clouds roll across the view outside Chilbolton Observatory, an atmospheric and radio research facility in the U.K.
Credit: Angela Davison
Close-up of an apparatus at the U.K. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
Credit: Vince Mo
A dandelion seed caught in an air grating at Canada’s nuclear TRIUMF facility.
Credit: Derek Lee
Metal beams and stacks of 100-ton concrete blocks that provide radiation shielding from flying particles in the Meson Hall at Canada’s nuclear TRIUMF facility.
Credit: Anne-Marie Comte
The retro-futuristic control room at Canada’s nuclear TRIUMF facility.
Credit: Jonathan Benjamin
Architectural details seen around Italy’s Laboratori Nazionali del Sud.
Credit: Domenico Santocito
A colorful piece of the DAFNE positron-electron collider at Italy’s Frascati National Laboratory.
Credit: Marco La Ferla
A green landscape made of wires at Fermilab in Illinois.
Credit: Stan Kirschner
Close-up of a device at Fermilab in Illinois.
Credit: Brian Schultz
Italian author and actor performed his show “Itis Galileo” at Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy.
Credit: Alex Marchesani
A dapper physicist hangs their hat and coat up at the control room of the DAFNE electron-positron accelerator in Italy.
Credit: Vinicio Tullio
Physics laboratories around the world house amazing machines that probe the heart of matter and unlock the secrets of the universe. Incredible as their scientific work is, these particle accelerators, heavy ion colliders, gamma ray detectors, and neutrino experiments are also beautiful.
That’s the takeaway from the 2012 Global Particle Physics Photowalk, a competition that looked at the intersection of art and high-energy particle physics. In September, hundreds of amateur and professional photographers were invited to take behind-the-scenes tours at 10 top-tier scientific facilities around the world and see some of the devices chasing the latest breakthroughs in physics.
The facilities toured include Brookhaven National Lab in New York and Fermilab in Illinois, Italy’s Gran Sasso National Laboratory, Chilbolton Observatory in the U.K., and TRIUMF in Canada. Each lab selected its favorite photos from the thousands submitted and the winners of those competitions advanced to the global contest. A jury of professional photographers and online voters came up with their first, second, and third places winners, which were announced Apr. 18. Winners got bragging rights in the global competition, and many of the individual lab contests also awarded prizes such as photo supplies or trips to CERN.
From the top 39 photos, we selected our favorites, which you can see in this gallery. But it was a tough decision and you should check out all the best submissions of the Photowalk’s Flickr page as well as each individual lab’s winning photos.