Minnesota scientist helped develop Swiss atom smasher

Large Hadron Collider
A large dipole magnet is lowered into the tunnel in Geneva, marking the end of a crucial phase of installation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Photo courtesy of CERN/AFP/Getty Images

University of Minnesota Physics Professor Roger Rusack is one of thousands of scientists who has worked on the Large Hadron Collider, which went on-line today -- burried deep below the Swiss and French countryside. Rusack has been part of the mammoth project since 1993, when Congress cut funding for a U.S.-based supercollider in Texas.

He's been to Switzerland many times to see the machine.

Host Tom Crann also asked professor Rusack about concerns circulating on the Internet that the Collider could cause global catostrophy.