Hadron collider sends proton beam

GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A proton beam has been sent through the Large Hadron Collider, a key step in restarting the world's largest atom smasher, physicists in Switzerland said.

The physicists Friday succeeded in sending the beam clockwise around the 17-mile underground tunnel near Geneva, the European Organization for Nuclear Research said.

The effort marked a critical step in restarting the $9 billion collider, which was shut down after it's inaugural start up in September 2008 because of problems with electromagnets.

The past year's work has been a "Herculean effort," Steve Myers, the collider's director for accelerators, said in a release.

Physicists aim to use the collider to investigate what the universe was like when it was less than a trillionth of a second old. To do that, protons of seven trillion volts each are to be smashed together to create tiny fireballs that replicate the conditions of the beginning of the universe, the physicists said.