Daniel Valuch discusses the high-caliber CERN hack
For those of us who enjoy exploring complex systems, spending hours or even days running hardware and software in concert, working in places like NASA or CERN seems like a job. dream. Imagine having the opportunity to turn a key on the Space Shuttle or the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - not only can you spend quality time with some of the most advanced machines ever produced, you can be sure your job will do. advance scientific understanding of the universe around us.
Or at least that's what we assume it must look like as outsiders. But what about someone who actually experienced it? What is a real employee, someone who had to wake up in the middle of the night because some obscure system went haywire and jammed a machine that cost $4.75 billion to build taxpayers, thinking of working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research?
Daniel ValuchLuckily for us, Daniel Valuch stopped by Hack Chat this week to answer exactly that question. Sharing everything from his grueling nine-hour entrance interview to the early days of the LHC when failures occurred every few minutes, he didn't sugarcoat the situation. That said, after spending two hours sharing his compelling stories with members of the community, the answer seems pretty clear: Daniel loves his job as much as we thought.
At the start of the chat, he states that joining the LHC team while it was still under construction reminded him of films and documentaries he had seen about NASA's Apollo Moon program. There was a palpable feeling that what they were working on was of great scientific and historical significance, and he couldn't help but be impressed by the brilliant scientists and engineers he rubbed shoulders with. He may have been the new kid in the lab, but thanks to his background in RF, Daniel soon found himself working with the high-speed ADCs, DACs, and FPGAs responsible for controlling the accelerated particle beam.
For the home hacker, it may not be immediately obvious how RF skills apply to particle accelerators. But of course, this is RF on a scale few of us can imagine. As Daniel explains, beam acceleration and stabilization require several megawatt-class amplifiers, and a good working knowledge of RF theory is a must. In his own words, "there is no physics without RF and no RF without physics."
Even with all the equipment and knowledge in the world, working on a state-of-the-art particle accelerator is particularly difficult. When it comes to events that actually happen at the speed of light, nothing is really straightforward. Even the fastest electronics can't react fast enough to control the beam in real time, so in a circular accelerator like the LHC you have to plan for the adjustments you'll need to make for the next pass. Even then, it only takes a few microseconds for the particles to complete their 27 kilometer (16.7 mile) turn through the accelerator ring before returning in front of you. So there is no time to lose.
For those of us who enjoy exploring complex systems, spending hours or even days running hardware and software in concert, working in places like NASA or CERN seems like a job. dream. Imagine having the opportunity to turn a key on the Space Shuttle or the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - not only can you spend quality time with some of the most advanced machines ever produced, you can be sure your job will do. advance scientific understanding of the universe around us.
Or at least that's what we assume it must look like as outsiders. But what about someone who actually experienced it? What is a real employee, someone who had to wake up in the middle of the night because some obscure system went haywire and jammed a machine that cost $4.75 billion to build taxpayers, thinking of working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research?
Daniel ValuchLuckily for us, Daniel Valuch stopped by Hack Chat this week to answer exactly that question. Sharing everything from his grueling nine-hour entrance interview to the early days of the LHC when failures occurred every few minutes, he didn't sugarcoat the situation. That said, after spending two hours sharing his compelling stories with members of the community, the answer seems pretty clear: Daniel loves his job as much as we thought.
At the start of the chat, he states that joining the LHC team while it was still under construction reminded him of films and documentaries he had seen about NASA's Apollo Moon program. There was a palpable feeling that what they were working on was of great scientific and historical significance, and he couldn't help but be impressed by the brilliant scientists and engineers he rubbed shoulders with. He may have been the new kid in the lab, but thanks to his background in RF, Daniel soon found himself working with the high-speed ADCs, DACs, and FPGAs responsible for controlling the accelerated particle beam.
For the home hacker, it may not be immediately obvious how RF skills apply to particle accelerators. But of course, this is RF on a scale few of us can imagine. As Daniel explains, beam acceleration and stabilization require several megawatt-class amplifiers, and a good working knowledge of RF theory is a must. In his own words, "there is no physics without RF and no RF without physics."
Even with all the equipment and knowledge in the world, working on a state-of-the-art particle accelerator is particularly difficult. When it comes to events that actually happen at the speed of light, nothing is really straightforward. Even the fastest electronics can't react fast enough to control the beam in real time, so in a circular accelerator like the LHC you have to plan for the adjustments you'll need to make for the next pass. Even then, it only takes a few microseconds for the particles to complete their 27 kilometer (16.7 mile) turn through the accelerator ring before returning in front of you. So there is no time to lose.
What's Your Reaction?
