“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. … I get most joy in life out of music.”
Albert Einstein
The ATLAS* experiment has already made headlines around the world for its pioneering research at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva. But incredibly, after discovering that a large number of people involved in CERN projects are accomplished musicians, ATLAS has taken the amazing step of recording and releasing an album. This goes to prove there is far more to ATLAS than investigating the origins of matter and the fundamental forces of nature.
The result is a double album of original material and covers, crossing all styles of music from rock to classical, that looks set to prove a big hit with both the scientific community and the wider public. If anyone can give Simon Cowell a run for his money for the coveted Christmas number one spot, it is some of the finest scientists in the world, who are researching the Universe and its almost unfathomable ‘X Factors.’
Released on the ATLAS scientists’ own label, Neutralino Records, which is named after a hypothetical particle predicted by a theory called supersymmetry in particle physics, ‘Resonance’ showcases 19 artists over two CDs and a DVD. The artists who appear on the album hope their music will attract a new audience to physics and encourage young people to study a subject that is often wrongly perceived as lacking in fun.
The album features a wealth of new songs. The highlights include:
- an original blues song about ATLAS from physicist Steven Goldfarb’s Canettes Blues Band;
- an ode to CERN from the remarkable singer-songwriter-scientist Cat Demetriades;
- classical piano pieces by head of ATLAS, Italian scientist Fabiola Gianotti, and
- the wry musings of guitar band TLAs and their song about their perennial bugbear – long meetings.
The album also features
- Genevieve Steele playing a beautiful traditional piece on a harp constructed by her physicist father;
- psych-rock from The Fullerenes;
- old time Appalachian from the Squirrelheads in Gravy; and
- music from a host of other acts, all of which include staff who work at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.
Set for release on December 6 2010, 13.7 billion years to the day since the Big Bang, Resonance is set to prove that though physics and music may seem like very different fields, they both require abstract thought, imagination, and a sense of fun. You can expect sparks to fly when the scientists at the forefront of researching the Big Bang go Pop!
Proceeds from the sales of Resonance will go to the “Happy Children’s Home” in Pokhara, Nepal to help them build an orphanage.
*ATLAS is one of the largest of four experiments using the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The physicists and related staff come from 38 countries and 174 universities and laboratories. Its main task is to record the products of the LHC collisions and search for new physics to better understand the forces that have shaped the Universe.
