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Behold, the majesty of weird, but beautiful science!

Former Homepage Editor

Updated Sat, Aug 8, 2015, 11:00 AM·1 min read

Artist or scientist? Work of art or laboratory machine? The two pairs needn't be exclusive and we've collected a batch of real-world photos to prove it. The artistry in crafting experimental machines to explore the fabric of our world rivals that used to create futuristic movie sets or avant-garde sculptures. The closer you explore reality, the more unusual and exotic it tends to appear. With that in mind, we offer you a gallery of science-based gadget porn to dazzle your eyes and titillate your brain.

[Image: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab - photo by Roy Kaltschmidt]

<p><a href="http://www.sandia.gov/index.html">Sandia National Laboratories</a>' Pulsed Power program, which began in the 1960s, brings you the Z machine. It's a powerful radiation source that uses magnetic fields and electricity to create high temperatures, high pressures and powerful X-rays for research in <a href="http://www.sandia.gov/research/research_foundations/radiation_effects_high_energy_density_science.html">high-energy density science</a>. </p>

<p>[Image: Randy Montoya for SNL]</p>

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory recently spent $94 million upgrading its tokamak. This device, which uses magnetic field coils to drive a plasma current around its donut-shaped (toroidal) circumference, is now the most powerful experimental fusion facility in the world. This is a view from its interior prior to the installation of its center stack.

The tokamak's interior with the center stack in place. The stack itself contains 36 copper conductors measuring more than 20 feet tall and weighing 350 pounds.

<p>An inside view of China's Daya Bay Neutrino Experiment facility, which uses anti-neutrinos that are produced by the nearby Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant. If neutrinos are your thing, you can read more about the technical details <a href="http://dayabay.ihep.ac.cn/docs/experiment.html">here</a>.</p>

<p>[Image: LBNL - photo by Roy Kaltschmidt]</p>

<p>The Super-Kamiokande (or Super-K) is a neutrino experiment facility located in Japan, although collaborators include the US, Korea, China, Poland and Spain. Its primary goal is to observe solar, atmospheric and man-made neutrinos to review their intrinsic properties.</p>

<p>[Image: ICRR, The University of Tokyo]</p>

<p>Rounding out the aesthetics of neutrino studies is one of Fermilab's NuMI (Neutrinos at the Main Injector) horns. This device directs a beam of protons onto a graphite (carbon) target where they degrade into these elusive particles for study.</p>

<p>[Image: Fermilab - photo by Reidar Hahn]</p>

The Bevatron particle accelerator began operating at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1954. It was early days for the study of particles and their theoretical negative counterparts. In 1955, the antiproton was discovered using this device.

<p class="p1">This is the beautifully retro-futuristic Cockroft-Walton accelerator at Fermilab in Chicago. Although decommissioned in 2012, it was the first of several steps, delivering high-energy protons into a linear accelerator for study.</p>

<p class="p1">[Fermilab - photo by Reidar Hahn]</p>

The gammasphere, built by a consortium of scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is one of the world's most powerful spectrometers. Using an array of ultra-high-purity germanium detectors, it collects data from high-energy light particles called gamma rays.

<p>Similar to the gammasphere, CERN's miniball is used to study the gamma ray spectrum, which is produced by the decay of ephemeral radioactive ion beams.</p>

<p>[Image: CERN]</p>

<p>This 20 x 23-foot wall is located at the CERN facility in Switzerland to measure the energy of particles from collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It's composed of a scintillator (an energy absorbing luminescent material), fiber optics and lead.</p>

<p>[Image: CERN]</p>

<p>Although similar in appearance to Princeton Plasma Physics' NSTX-U, this is a TPC field cage from the ALICE experiment, another one of CERN's wonderful machines. It was designed to help transport electrons in a uniform electrostatic field with the help of gas-tight walls and electrical isolation.</p>

<p>[Image: CERN]</p>

<p>Ever wonder how clouds form or how environmental factors affect the process? Jasper Kirkby's <a href="http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2014/05/cern-experiment-sheds-new-light-cloud-formation">CLOUD experiment</a> at CERN has done just that, exposing how biogenic vapors from trees oxidize in the atmosphere and combine with other elements to create the seeds of clouds.</p>

<p>[Image: CERN]</p>

<p>The ATLAS experiment at the LHC in CERN is always an eyeful of technological wizardry. Here, eight toroidal magnets surround the calorimeter, which was later moved to the center of the detector. It's the portion of the process where particles are stopped and absorbed, and energy is measured.</p>

<p>[Image: CERN]</p>

<p>This colorfully illuminated shot shows an endcap for the ATLAS silicon strip detector (SCT) in CERN. As particles hit the silicon, they create a small pulse in current, but since radiation levels are so high the temperatures must be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius. </p>

<p>[Image: CERN]</p>

<p>The flying saucer look of this ion engine test chamber at the Lewis Research Center's Electric Propulsion Laboratory in 1961 is just a coincidence. The studies, however, did lead to improved thruster technology for today's communication satellites.</p>

<p>[Image: NASA]</p>

<p>The scientific precision of spacecraft design is amazing to behold. Here we get a view of SpinSat, a 22-inch diameter satellite, as it prepares to be deployed from the ISS. Its mission was to capture atmospheric data while testing new thruster technology. </p>

<p>[Image: NASA]</p>

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