VMware reports that its Fusion software for Macintoshes is being used by scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, creators of the Large Hadron Collider.

VMware Fusion enables Intel-based Macs to run non-Mac OS X based operating systems without having to reboot first. CERN scientists are using Fusion to share Linux-based computer code on Fusion “virtual machines” running on Macs. The software links the computers to the LHC Computing Grid — a network of about 40,000 CPUs.

Located underground in Geneva, Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest particle accelerator, and physicists will use the LHC to study the origin of matter by colliding protons together. Scientists hope to produce subatomic particles that will help prove or disprove current theories about the birth of the Universe.

Some groups have claimed that the LHC will destroy the planet by creating a black hole; CERN scientists dismiss such claims. The LHC went online with its first proton beam Wednesday, with high-energy collisions expected to start on October 21, 2008.