Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have achieved the long-held alchemical dream of turning lead into gold, albeit briefly and under extraordinary conditions. By colliding lead ions at near-light speeds, researchers at CERN induced a transmutation process whereby lead nuclei would eject protons due to intense electromagnetic fields. This process was only detectable by the ALICE experiment, which filtered out collisions to find 86 billion gold nuclei produced between 2015 and 2018, each lasting just microseconds before decaying. This significant finding highlights advancements in particle physics and the surreal capabilities of modern science.
The physicists at CERN managed to turn lead into gold by directing beams of lead at each other, achieving transmutation through intense electromagnetic fields.
While seventeenth-century alchemists dreamed of this process, actual transmutation was made possible through the advanced technology and multi-billion-dollar infrastructure of the LHC.
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