CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s leading centers for scientific research. Its mission is to explore the fundamental structure of the universe.
CERN was founded in 1954 with the aim of providing a home for Europe’s top physicists and engineers working on nuclear research. CERN has since become a global leader in particle physics, playing a key role in some of the most important discoveries in recent history. These include the discovery of antimatter, the Higgs boson, and dark matter.
Today, CERN is home to around 2,500 scientists from over 100 countries. They use powerful particle accelerators to study the smallest particles in existence. By understanding these building blocks of matter, they hope to unlock secrets about our universe and its beginnings.
CERN is best known for its flagship experiment, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This 27km-long underground ring uses powerful magnetic fields to collide beams of protons at close to light speed. The collisions create tiny fireballs that allow physicists to study conditions that existed just after the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.
The LHC isn’t CERN’s only experiment – there are many others studying different aspects of particle physics using different techniques. However it is by far the largest and most complex machine ever built, and its discoveries have made headlines around the world.