The ATLAS experiment

Explore the fascinating past and present of the ATLAS Collaboration in this timeline.

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20 11, 2006
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The ATLAS detector under construction in 2005. © CERN

The ATLAS Barrel Toroid, a characteristic component of the detector, then the largest superconducting magnet ever built, is switched on for the first time. It works together with the two Endcap Toroids and a central Solenoid magnet to bend the paths of charged particles produced in collisions at the LHC, enabling important properties to be measured.

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04 06, 2003
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June 2003: Inauguration of ATLAS cavern. © CERN

After five years of innovative and ingenious civil engineering, the ATLAS detector cavern (35 x 55 x 40 metres) was fully excavated. ATLAS, CERN officials, and political authorities, including the President of the Swiss Confederation Pascal Couchepin, celebrated the inauguration of the first cavern on the Large Hadron Collider on 4 June 2003. Installation of the detector in the cavern began soon after.

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15 12, 1994
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ATLAS Experiment Technical Proposal and Technical Design Reports for sub-detectors. © CERN

The ATLAS Collaboration submits the technical proposal of the experiment to the LHC Experiments Committee. Approval to proceed with technical design reports would be granted in early 1996, followed by the submission of the first report on 15 December of the same year. A long series of Technical Design Reports follow.

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01 10, 1992
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atlas-collaboration-publishes-letter-of-intent

The ATLAS Collaboration proposes the construction of a general-purpose detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The Letter of Intent was submitted to the LHC Experiments Committee, which marked the first official use of the name ATLAS. The Letter identified a number of conceptual and technical design options, including a superconducting toroid magnet system.