CERN
European Organization
for Nuclear Research
Organisation Européenne
pour la Recherche Nucléaire
Member states
Formation
29 September 1954[1]
Type
Particle physics laboratory
Headquarters Geneva
Membership
20 member states and 8
observers
Director
General
Rolf-Dieter Heuer
Website
http://www.cern.ch/
The European Organization for Nuclear
Research (French: Organisation Européenne
pour la Recherche Nucléaire), known as
CERN
(see Naming), pronounced /ˈsɜrn/
The 12 founding member states of CERN in
1954 a[›] (map borders from 1989)
54 years after its foundation, membership to
CERN increased to 20 states, 18 of which are
also EU members as of 2008
(French pronunciation: [sɛʀn]),
is the world’s
largest particle physics laboratory, situated
in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the
Franco-Swiss border, established in 1954.[1]
The organization has twenty European mem-
ber states, and is currently the workplace of
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CERN
1
approximately 2,600 full-time employees, as
well as some 7,931 scientists and engineers
(representing 580 universities and research
facilities and 80 nationalities).
CERN’s main function is to provide the
particle accelerators and other infrastructure
needed for high-energy physics research.
Numerous experiments have been construc-
ted at CERN by international collaborations
to make use of them. It is also noted for be-
ing the birthplace of the World Wide Web.
The main site at Meyrin also has a large com-
puter centre containing very powerful data
processing facilities primarily for experiment-
al data analysis, and because of the need to
make them available to researchers else-
where, has historically been (and continues
to be) a major wide area networking hub.
As an international facility, the CERN sites
are officially under neither Swiss nor French
jurisdiction. Member states’ contributions to
CERN for the year 2008 totalled CHF 1 bil-
lion (approximately €664 million, US $1 bil-
lion).[2]
History
The convention establishing CERN was
signed on 29 September 1954