Ten of the world’s leading particle physics facilities invited hundreds of photographers, amateur and professional, for a behind-the-scenes look in September 2012. The InterActions Physics Photowalk, an annual event, allowed photographers to visit top labs, including Brookhaven National Lab in New York, Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, Chilbolton Observatory in the U.K., and TRIUMF in Canada. An international panel selected this shot by Joseph Paul Boccio of the KLOE detector at Italy’s Frascati National Laboratory as the top prizewinner.
Boccio’s image is arresting not only for its saturated color and strong composition, but for the sinuous shapes (belts? wires?) that crisscross the giant machine, looking very much like a group of highly organized snakes. This hint of the earthy and biblical contrasts strongly with the rarified intellectual image of particle physics.
Another image that caught my eye was Helen Trist’s photograph of data storage at the UK’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, the third-prize winner (below). This photo hints at the paradox of what particle physics labs do – construct cavernous facilities filled with huge machines that generate mountains of data – all in an effort to understand the tiniest particles in existence.
You can see the top 39 photos from the competition on the Photowalk’s Flickr page. More information on the competition, including the full list of labs and facilities is here.
The Finch and Pea 