CERN Measures Neutrinos Travelling Faster Than Light

So their detectors detected neutrinos from a beam travelling faster than light? The particles that can phase through solid matter and bombard the Earth constantly? I somehow think that the neutrinos they detected weren't even from the beam.

<———(knows next to nothing about neutrinos)

edited 20th Sep '12 1:08:45 PM by JimmyTMalice

Um, CERN resolved this by saying that it was an error due to faulty connection/equipment.

which we all kind of expected from the beginning

Well I didn't expect it to be due to a basic equipment fault and for the two head researchers to resign.

I did. there's so many minor things that could have gone wrong that I figured that it'd be something like "have you tried turning it on and off again"

Like the problem was so stupid they were too smart to see it.

It's not really their fault though. CERN is really complex and expensive and it's not something you take apart to inspect on a whim. And even the researchers suspected that it was probably a measurement error of some kind, they just couldn't tell where or why.

Yes. If I remember correctly, before making the announcement the first time they repeated the experiment a number of times and checked everything that they could think of.

I'm actually sorry that the two head researchers had to resign — I don't know anything, obviously, but chances are that they were not responsible for the mistake and did nothing wrong...

edited 21st Sep '12 8:19:24 AM by Carciofus

When was this error found anyway? The way this all seems to have happened it sounds like it was found literally hours after the announcement was made.

No, it took a while. I don't remember precisely how much, but it was more than one month, I think.

EDIT: According to Wikipedia, the announcement was made on 22 September, and the problems were found on 24 February.

edited 21st Sep '12 8:30:37 AM by Carciofus

Oh. . . I thought the date was this year not last. . .pardon me.