Large Hadron Collider runs first collisions since breakdown

This latest collisions are relatively low-energy and the next step is to get particles colliding at higher energies than ever before by early next year. The accelerator should reach energy of 1.2 TeV per beam by Christmas if all goes well, according to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Experiments conducted by the Large Hadron Collider may help to answer fundamental questions on Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. It is funded by and built in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.

The $10 billion machine was forced to shut down in September 2008 due to an electrical fault in the bus between magnets which caused a rupture and a leak of six tonnes of liquid helium.

On Friday, CERN announced the Large Hadron Collider is operational once again.

"It's great to see beam circulating in the LHC again," said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. "We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way."

The Large Hadron Collider has been plagued with many unfortunate incidents. In 2005, a technician was killed in the tunnel when a crane load was accidentally dropped. On 27 March 2007 a cryogenic magnet support broke during a pressure test involving one of the LHC's inner triplet (focusing quadrupole) magnet assemblies.