In a first, physicists accelerate atoms in the Large Hadron Collider
The successful test may mean the particle accelerator could be used as a gamma-ray factory
![LHC](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/073118_EC_lhc-atoms_feat.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
A NEW FRONTIER Before the Large Hadron Collider accelerated lead atoms, only protons and atomic nuclei had zipped through the particle accelerator.
Maximilien Brice and Julien Ordan/CERN