September 24, 2011
An international team of scientists said on Thursday they had recorded sub-atomic particles travelling faster than light — a finding that could overturn one of Einstein’s long-accepted fundamental laws of the universe. A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos — tiny particles that pervade the cosmos — were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN towards Gran Sasso 730 (500 miles) km away, where they were picked up by giant detectors.  Light would have covered the distance in around 2.4 thousandths of a second, but the neutrinos took 60 nanoseconds — or 60 billionths of a second — less than light beams would have taken. This will keep physicists busy for a while…

An international team of scientists said on Thursday they had recorded sub-atomic particles travelling faster than light — a finding that could overturn one of Einstein’s long-accepted fundamental laws of the universe.

  • A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos — tiny particles that pervade the cosmos — were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN towards Gran Sasso 730 (500 miles) km away, where they were picked up by giant detectors. 
  • Light would have covered the distance in around 2.4 thousandths of a second, but the neutrinos took 60 nanoseconds — or 60 billionths of a second — less than light beams would have taken.

This will keep physicists busy for a while…