The Big Chill

In just five years the LHC's twenty-seven kilometre ring of superconducting magnets will be brought down to a chily 1.9 Kelvin - some 300 degrees below room temperature - as CERN's new flagship accelerator is commissioned. Validating all the systems that will cool and power the LHC is the job of String 2, a chain of prototype magnets currently being put through its paces in SM18.