Deep underground, over 330 feet (100 meters) below the Earth’s surface, a tunnel runs for 16.7 miles in an unbroken circle. Giant machinery dwarfs the figures of humans in jumpsuits and hard hats as they work. It could be a scene from a Bond movie, with the construction created by some evil genius out to destroy the world. But the aim of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is, of course, not destruction, but discovery – and discovery on a grand scale.